Please Just Save Me From This Darkness
by Heaven Born Captain
Summary: Sequel to Witch Way Now? Harry Potter Xover. Set in HP6 and Charmed 6/7. Cole returns to teach at Hogwarts. He has dedicated his life to serving Dumbledore, but what will it cost him? Please read and review.
1. A New Beginning

Full Summary: Sequel to Witch Way Now? Harry Potter Crossover. Set during Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Season 6/7 of Charmed. Cole has dedicated his life to serving Dumbledore, but what will it cost him? His love, his family, even his life? Please read Witch Way Now? if you haven't already, otherwise you may not get some of the plot in this story. Please read and review.

A/N: Hey everyone. I'm back, and very quickly, for another instalment. Unfortunately, I start back at uni next week so I won't be able to update as often as I did with Witch Way Now? but hopefully I will finish this fic before the term is over.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, locations or storylines from Charmed or Harry Potter. I have the utmost respect for J.K. Rowling and the writers, producers and directors of Charmed and do not intend to infringe copyright laws. I am not making any profit from this story and am writing it for my enjoyment and the enjoyment of others.

**Chapter One: A New Beginning**

It was a crisp, warm summer's evening and Cole found himself seated on the porch outside the Halliwell manor with his lover on his lap, her arms lovingly around his neck.

"So how did the boys go on their first day of normal nursery school?" Cole asked, in between kissing Phoebe, "I don't see what was wrong with the nursery at Magic School."

"Are we ever going to talk about what you're going to do when the new school year at Hogwarts starts again?" she demanded, changing the subject awfully quickly and violently.

Cole hesitated. He had been avoiding this talk since he got off the Hogwarts Express three days ago.

"We haven't talked, Cole, and I mean _really_ talked, since that night at the Ministry. You came back and acted like everything was fine. It's not fine, Cole!" Phoebe was starting to get exasperated. She got off his lap and walked inside the house.

Cole let her and remained outside, still unable to find the right words to say. He did not know how to tell her that he was leaving her again, even though he was going to try and be back.

He lay back on a sun chair and looked at the sky. The stars were not easy to stop due to the lights of the city, but he was still mesmerised by the patterns that they made.

**oOo**

"Are you planning to tell Turner about this?" Snape asked the headmaster. The two were sitting in Dumbledore's office and Snape was pouring a potion over Dumbledore's wound.

"No," Dumbledore replied simply, "He won't understand. He has done so much to try and protect me. He won't be able to let me go. He has a very hard time letting go."

Snape nodded. "You know that he's going to try and protect you all year no matter what. He may put himself in danger because of it."

"Cole can protect himself," Dumbledore answered forcefully, but then conceded the younger man's point, "I won't let him be killed on my account. I will make sure that he is unable to stop what is to come in the future."

Snape finished up his work and looked at the old wizard. "This year isn't going to be easy. For any of us."

"Be strong, Severus. When the time comes, you will know what you have to do. Never forget why you are doing this."

Snape nodded again, this time getting up to leave. "Will you be alright now, Sir?"

Dumbledore smiled and signalled to Snape that he could leave. He then turned and lay back on his chair, looking at the portraits of those headmasters and headmistresses that had gone before him, wondering just how long he had until he joined them.

**oOo**

"I have a meeting with Rufus Scrimgeour," he told Phoebe and anyone else who was listening as he bustled into kitchen the following morning wearing a grey suit with a green shirt and tie and his black robe over the top.

"Rufus Scrimgeour?" Phoebe questioned after Cole had kissed her good morning. She was trying to wrestle Corn Flakes into Jaxon's mouth. Julian sat there in his 

highchair, quite happy to accept mouthfuls of the cereal as his new mummy gave them to him.

"Yes, he's the new Minister for Magic," Cole replied, as he attempted to feed Jaxon as well. Jaxon, as it appeared, was perfectly happy to allow his father to feed him.

"See now he opens his mouth," Phoebe said as Jaxon ate mouthfuls of Corn Flakes.

Piper laughed and offered Cole some scrambled eggs, which he declined.

"Chris," he then said, turning to the younger male, "Would you like to come with me to the Ministry? There's strength in numbers, if you know what I mean, and Scrimgeour is a not force to be reckoned with."

"Absolutely," Chris replied happily, "I'm so freaking bored around here."

He got up, leaving his bowl for his mother to clean up after him, and changed his shirt into something a little more appropriate than 'FBI: Female Body Inspector.'

Cole then shimmered to the Ministry, Chris orbing right behind him.

"So where to now?" Chris asked, nervously looking around at the hustle and bustle action in the Ministry at midday.

"We should check in over here in the Atrium and perhaps they can direct us," Cole shrugged walking to one side of the large foyer. The young whitelighter followed very closely behind him.

"Hello, um, Cole Turner here to see the Minister," Cole said, very unsure of protocol at the Ministry, "And Chris Perry is here with me as well."

"Very well, Mr Turner," the woman answered, "If you'll just take that lift over there to the first level, someone will greet you and take to Minister Scrimgeour's office."

"Thank you," Cole replied very politely and walked with Chris to the elevator as they put the badges that they had been given on.

They took the lift up to the first level and followed the woman that had been sent to greet them. She led them to Scrimgeour's office and they entered alone.

"Ah, Cole," Scrimgeour said, getting out of his chair to embrace Cole's handshake, "And?"

"Chris Perry," Chris replied, also shaking the Minister's hand.

"Yes, Chris was present last month at the Ministry and is accompanying me today," Cole told Scrimgeour quickly, not wanting to reveal the real reason as to why Chris was there, "So you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Well, we'll skip the small talk then, shall we?" Scrimgeour said, "You're a very influential and powerful man, Cole. There's no denying that. I could use a man like you."

"I'm sorry, Sir," Cole replied, trying to be polite, "My loyalties are to one man only."

"Now come, Cole," Scrimgeour responded, placing his arm around the taller man's shoulder, "You shouldn't be so narrow-minded. We are at war. There is plenty of time to declare an open allegiance to good magic. You should think of it as a partnership. I'll scratch you back if you scratch mine. I can make sure that your family is protected and, in turn, you can make sure that Dumbledore works alongside me."

"I'm not going to be your spy, Scrimgeour," Cole answered disdainfully, "I'm Dumbledore's man, through and through. You would not have been so keen to ask this of me last year when I was the crazy lunatic that thought Voldemort was alive."

Scrimgeour showed his strength by not flinching at the sound of Voldemort's name like many of his counterparts, including his predecessor, do.

"Cole," he continued, "Believe me when I say that it is in your best interest to go along with me on this."

Chris smiled smugly and chose his words carefully. "Or what?" he said loudly, speaking for the first time, "I believe that Cole has said no. He isn't going to change his mind and anything you say is only going to push him further into that mindset. If we have a change of heart, we'll give you a call, until then, goodbye." And he placed his hand on Cole's back and ushered the older man out.

Once they were out of the office and back in the lift, Cole turned graciously to Chris. "Thanks for bailing me out of there. I thought he was smarter than Fudge, but really, he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed."

Chris smiled back and as soon as they were in the Atrium, they shimmered and orbed out.

**oOo**

Cole found it hard to believe that two weeks of the holidays had already passed. He was having so much fun back with the family, playing with his sons, making crude comments about Paige's clothing and enjoying, with great fondness, Piper's cooking. He had managed to avoid having the 'big talk' with Phoebe. He was just trying to enjoy the little time he had with her without the angst and passive aggressiveness of their arguments.

He found himself alone one evening, watching TV after most of the family had gone to bed, when Dumbledore showed up and invited himself inside.

"Well, Cole," he began, "How have your holidays been?"

Cole looked at the blackened, dead hand of his mentor and replied. "I'm gonna guess that yours have been pretty busy."

Dumbledore looked confused for a moment and then noticed that Cole was staring at his hand. "Oh, this. Don't worry about it, it should heal soon," he lied.

"What happened?" Cole then asked, a little concerned about his mentor's wellbeing.

"I will tell, but not right now. It is a fascinating and long story for another time, Cole," he replied, pushing the point that he didn't want to talk about it just yet, "For now, I would like you to accompany me to fetch Harry from his Aunt and Uncle's."

"Absolutely," Cole responded, jumping to his feet, "I'll just leave Phoebe a note to say where I'm going, otherwise she'll worry and then I'll have to hear about it for another week."

Dumbledore smiled as Cole quickly scribbled a message down on a Post-It note and stuck it to the fridge.

The two then disappeared from the kitchen, arriving on the doorstep of number four, Privet Drive, where Cole proceeded to ring the doorbell. He wondered if anybody was up, since it was very late.

"Who the blazes is calling at this time of night?" they heard a man yell.

Cole grinned wickedly, recognising that the voice belonged to Mr Dursley, who he had threatened just a few weeks beforehand. He waited, with a great anticipation, for the man to answer the door, wondering what his first thoughts will be when he saw Cole again.


	2. Bodyguard Duty

A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry that I didn't update quickly, but I was so busy with World Youth Day. So here is my next chapter. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Harry Potter or Charmed and I am not making a profit from this story.

**Chapter Two: Bodyguard Duty**

"You!" Dursley bellowed.

"Hi," Cole smiled back with a little wave of his hand as Mr Dursley looked over his shoulder to see if there were any news crews behind him.

"Good evening. You must be Mr Dursley. I daresay Harry has told you I would be coming for him?" Dumbledore asked in polite, deep voice.

"Judging by your look of stunned disbelief, Harry did _not_ warn you that I was coming," Dumbledore said pleasantly, while Cole sniggered behind him, catching sight of Harry clambering down the stairs, "However, let's just assume that you have invited us warmly into your house. It is unwise to linger overlong on doorsteps in these troubled times."

He stepped in the dwelling with Cole, who decided to look around outside before entering to check that nobody had followed.

Once inside, Dumbledore began to speak to each of the Dursleys in turn, although Cole was not paying attention. He was fascinated by the cleanliness of their home. Piper had tried hard to keep the Manor in a state of neatness, but it was often impossible due to the number of demons dropping in on a daily, and sometimes hourly, basis.

Cole followed the Dursleys and Dumbledore into the living room after much deliberation in the hallway. Whilst everybody sat down on the sofas, Cole remained standing off to the side. He was not remotely interested in what Dumbledore was going to tell the Dursleys. In fact, he was only there to ensure that Dumbledore took Harry where he needed to go safely.

After five minutes of singing _'Yellow Submarine'_ under his breath, Cole's ears perked up at the mention of Sirius' will. He turned around to face Dumbledore, giving the man his full and undivided attention.

"Our problem," Dumbledore continued to tell Harry, "Is that Sirius also left you number twelve, Grimmauld Place."

"He's been left a house?" said Dursley loudly and greedily, getting to his feet. Cole shot him a dark look that told the man to sit back down and remain silent.

"You can keep using it Headquarters," Harry replied, slightly disdainfully, "I don't care. You can have it, I don't really want it."

Cole looked down and started to wish he hadn't come. He had not told Dumbledore or Harry about Sirius' rebirth as a whitelighter and he hated having to keep it a secret. He ignored the rest of the discussion, his mind clouded by thoughts of his last meeting with Sirius.

The arrival of a very peculiar green creature, however, drew Cole's attention back to the present reality.

"What the _hell_ is that?" Dursley bellowed, causing Cole to stare at the annoyingly simple-minded man.

Cole then attempted to speak over Kreacher's escalating yells, but gave up and let Dumbledore explain the purpose of Kreacher being there.

"Kreacher is showing certain reluctance to pass into your ownership," Dumbledore told him.

"I don't care," Harry spat out with hatred, "I don't want him."

"Give him an order so we can see if he belongs to you know," Cole screamed out over Kreacher's whining, "Unless you would prefer it if he passed into the ownership of Bellatrix Lestrange? Bearing in mind that he has lived at Headquarters for more than a year with enough knowledge about the Order to benefit Voldemort."

Harry gave in and turned to Kreacher. "Kreacher, shut up!"

At that moment, the elf grabbed his throat as if he was choking.

"If my elf acted like that, he would find himself transmuted into a pile of ash in a heartbeat," Cole said after a few moments of gasping noises, looking discouragingly at the creature.

After Harry, decided to send the elf to Hogwarts, Cole heard a crashing noise coming from outside. The look on the faces of the other people in the room told him that they had heard it, too.

"Stay here," Cole whispered, "I'll check it out."

He walked outside silently and looked around the sides of the house and under the car. He walked up to the garbage bin to notice that it was tipped over. He went to pick it up when he saw a cat stare at him and then run off. Choosing to believe that the cat was the source of the racket, Cole went back inside. Dumbledore and Harry were preparing to leave, much to the delight of the Dursleys.

"And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flightly temptress, adventure," Dumbledore said as they stepped outside.

Cole walked ahead them once they had left the Dursleys to look around for anything suspicious. He signalled to Dumbledore that everything was clear and then shimmered ahead to their next destination.

**oOo**

Dumbledore arrived soon after with Harry joining him in Side-Along-Apparition.

"Er- where exactly are we?" Harry asked uncertainly as Cole walked ahead of the two, again looking around for anyone suspicious.

"This, Harry, is the charming village of Budleigh Babberton," Dumbledore replied cheerfully.

Cole was ahead of them by about 20 metres. He had not met this Horace Slughorn before, but he was anxious to talk to the man. He had never met an old, close friend of Dumbledore's before. He actually went as far as to wonder whether or not the wizard had any friends.

He found the house and waited patiently for the other two to follow. They entered the house, seeing a state of absolute and utter destruction in the man's living room.

Dumbledore and Harry pulled their wands out and followed Cole into the house. Cole looked around, seeing that virtually everything had been destroyed. He lit up an energy ball in his palm as he walked towards an overstuffed armchair. He nodded to 

Dumbledore, who walked up behind him and poked his wand into the seat of the chair, which yelled, "Ouch!"

"Good evening, Horace," said Dumbledore, straightening up again, as Cole extinguished the ball of glowing light in his hand.

Cole smiled seeing the shock on Harry's face when the armchair turned into an exceptionally large, balding man.

Suddenly a phone rang, taking everyone by surprise. Cole heard _'Shut Up'_ by the Black Eyed Peas ring out of his pocket. He cringed, realising that it was Phoebe ringing him. Choosing not to answer, he let the phone ring out while the others stared at him in silence.

He regretted not answering it the moment the phone stopped ringing. _'I'm going to get it later,'_ he thought, repulsed by the idea of stirring up another fight with Phoebe.

"Sir," Cole asked politely, facing Dumbledore, "Do you still require my services? I think that I should return home."

"Understandable," Dumbeldore replied, "Phoebe is probably wondering where you have disappeared to this time." He nodded his head slightly with a very knowledgeable look on his face.

Cole thanked the wizard and left quickly, slightly upset that he did not get to meet Slughorn. He shimmered out and back to the Manor.

**oOo**

Cole opened the front door and entered the Manor quietly. He decided that he was lucky and Phoebe had gone back to bed. He began to tiptoe upstairs but was halted by the flickering of a light behind him.

He turned around to see Phoebe sitting at the end of the dining table, her hand grasping a glass of red wine.

"Oh, Phoebe," Cole began, choosing to make a joke out of the situation, "How very cliché."

Phoebe smiled and chuckled softly. "I embrace the clichés. Now sit down. We need to talk." Her face changed very quickly to a serious one.

"Perhaps in the morning, honey," Cole replied, moving his arm back in the direction of their bedroom, but the look on Phoebe's face told him to sit down and act attentive.

"Were you out with Dumbledore tonight?" she asked slowly, trying to grasp her anger. Cole sat down at the other end of the table and looked down at the vase in the middle that separated them.

"Yes," he replied, equally as slowly, "We had work to do. You know how it is, now that Voldemort is out in the open. After everything that has happened over the past three weeks, the Brockdale Bridge, that hurricane in the West Country, too. It's complete and utter chaos in Britain."

"And you choose to hide from me your involvement in this war each and every time you leave the house," Phoebe said, trying to keep her voice down since the others were sleeping, "Why can't you just tell what you're up to? I'm worried. None of this feels right."

"You don't need to know," Cole replied shaking his head, but this reply only made Phoebe angrier.

"No!" she shouted getting to her feet and causing Cole to turn around to see if she had woken anyone, "Don't cut me out your life like this. You did it every time you went to the Underworld when you were Belthazor. I'd hoped that we were passed all that now. But I guess not."

"Look, Phoebe, that information is not exactly pertinent to anything going on here in the States. I would tell you if it was, but that's not why you're angry at me." Cole dared himself to go down this path. He knew he would have to eventually.

"You're going back to Hogwarts, aren't you?" she asked, sitting down again and regaining some of her self control.

"I don't have a choice, Phoebe. It's who I am."

"No, Cole," she replied and Cole could sense that she was getting riled up again for another screaming match, "It's who you choose to be. You're running from your life here, again. What am I supposed to do about Jaxon and Julian? You have a family here, Cole!"

"I ran away from this life here a long time ago, Phoebe," he replied quietly, "And I am just now trying to get some of it back. But I have changed. I'm not the same man that you tried to vanquish a year ago. And I owe Dumbledore. Of course, I'm going back to Hogwarts, Phoebe, you don't even need to ask. I have been committed to Dumbledore's service ever since he saved my life last year. End of story. I'm Dumbledore's man and, in all honesty, nothing else matters."

Cole was angry at her blatant self-centredness. He stood up and near sprinted out the front door before Phoebe could stop him. Not that she wanted to. She was furious that he had, once again, acted completely dismissive of their family. Without looking at the door that Cole had just exited from, Phoebe went upstairs and back to bed.


	3. A New Place to Hide

Author's Notes: Hey everyone. So sorry that I didn't update sooner but my week has been so hectic. I actually managed to finish half of Chapter 4 on the bus ride home from uni so, hopefully, I can update again very soon.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Charmed or Harry Potter, nor do I own the recipe for Pasta with Shrimp Ragu (that was from the New York Times).

Happy Reading!

**Chapter Three: A New Place to Hide**

Harry sat by the fire at the Burrow cleaning his Firebolt with the _Broomstick Servicing Kit_ that Hermione had bought him three years earlier. It had been three days since Dumbledore brought him there and he had not been allowed to leave, even to go out into the yard, for fears of reprisals by Voldemort against the Ministry.

Angered by Dumbledore's decision to keep him cooped up in the house, he hatched a plan with the twins and Ron to get a quick match of Quidditch earlier that day. However, the four young boys didn't even manage to get their brooms in the air before they were swooped by a herd of Dementors, sent by Voldemort to capture Harry.

They could not fully penetrate the defensive shield around the property, but their magic still affected the young wizards. Harry's stag Patronus allowed the group the chance to run back inside the house and alert the adults to their situation.

With a mixture of quick thinking and sheer luck, the older Weasleys managed to fend off the pack of invaders until other members of the Order arrived moments later to help them drive the Dementors away.

Now Harry was sitting on the floor of the Weasley's living room, trying to listen in on the conversation between several Order members, who were deciding upon a better way to protect him.

But Harry could not hear them. He had no choice but to wait patiently for a verdict whilst they spoke in the other room.

And so Harry sat for more than an hour, lost in his thoughts, until, finally, the group deliberated and reached a consensus. Dumbledore led the group into the hallway, where they dispersed, going their separate ways. He then went into the living room to address Harry.

"It isn't safe for you in England, Harry," Dumbledore began, "He knows where you are and whilst he cannot get through these protective spells and charms yet, I think that it is only a matter of time until he can."

Harry nodded, wondering what this meant for him.

"So we have decided," the old wizard continued, "To send you to America with Professor Turner until the school term begins. I'm sure that with all the magic in the Halliwell Manor, he will be able to protect you."

Harry nodded again, excited that he was going to spend more time at the Manor, but slightly disappointed that he was going to be separated from Hermione and Ron.

"Um, sir," Harry began uncertainly, "But Ron and Hermione-"

"I'm sorry, Harry," Dumbledore replied, cutting Harry off, "But I don't want the Charmed Ones to be spread too thin. It is going to be hard enough watching over you as well as the three boys and all of the demons they fight. You will see your friends again on September 1 at the station."

Harry hung his head, deflated that he was going to miss them for the next month and a half.

Dumbledore, seeing Harry's feeling of dejection, spoke up again. "Perhaps they can visit you there, if Professor Turner is permitting. Ah, here he is now."

Cole walked into the room to see two pairs of eyes looking at him.

"Alright," he said, "Why don't you go and pack, Harry? I must speak with the Headmaster for a moment."

Harry left to pack and tell his friends where he was going for the next few weeks. Once Cole knew that he was out of earshot he began to speak.

"He will be safe with me, Sir. You can count on that. It's unlikely that Voldemort will attack the Manor. His Death Eaters don't tend to last very long there."

"Oh, I have faith that you will be able to protect him, Cole."

"So, are you going to tell me why your hand looks like you put it through a wood chopper then set it alight? _Sir?_" Cole stressed out the last word.

"It is a long story, Cole, and I need to give you a lot of background knowledge. But trust me; the information will come when the time is right."

Cole dropped his head disheartened, once again, by the older wizard's secrets. He saw Harry trample back down the stairs, Ron and Hermione helping him with his luggage, and back into the living room.

"Ready to go then, Harry?" Cole asked brightly.

Harry nodded and bid his friends goodbye. Cole then held on to the luggage and Harry's arm, ready to shimmer out. With one last look from the both of them, Cole and Harry disappeared from the room.

**oOo**

Harry appeared in the hallway of the illustrious Halliwell Manor. He had visited it a few times last school year, but he had never stayed there before.

"There's a bedroom made up for you down upstairs, Harry," Piper said warmly, coming out of the kitchen wearing an apron, "It's the third door to your left. You're in luck, actually. Cole knew someone that could renovations very quickly."

Harry smiled as Cole helped him take his luggage to his room.

"Yeah, we really need the three extra bedrooms, extra bathroom and two extra wardrobes," Cole chuckled, winking at Harry as they lumbered up the stairs, heaving the heavy baggage behind them, "The poor guy was working with his crew for month to get it done by my deadline. They finished last week."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said as they entered the room and put the bags on the floor.

"You're welcome," Cole replied, "But while you're here, it's Cole. Mainly because neighbours and guests don't know that I am a teacher at a magical boarding school. They're all under the impression that I'm a businessman who frequently travels around the world and the United States."

Harry nodded and Cole turned to walk out.

"Oh, one more thing, Harry. Piper is about to call lunch so I suggest you get down there fast."

Harry smiled and followed him back downstairs.

The kitchen welcomed them with the rich, aromatic smell of herbs and seafood. Piper was bustling over the stove, her pasta bubbling over.

"Oh, hey, will you grab the boys and put them in their highchairs," Piper asked, noticing them, "It's nearly ready."

At that moment, Paige announced her arrival by slamming her handbag down on the dining table. Phoebe and Chris came in at the same time, arriving just moments after Paige.

"Mmmm, smells good, Mum," Chris asked as he took a seat next to Jaxon, "What's cooking?"

"_Pasta with Shrimp Ragū,"_ she replied as she poured the sauce on top of the pasta and settled a garnish on top.

"Looks delicious, Mrs Halliwell," Harry said sitting between Phoebe and Chris.

"Well, thank you, Harry, but please call me Piper," she replied.

The family of nine then dug into the wonderfully prepared lunch in front of them.

**oOo**

Harry had been at the Manor a grand total of two days and, whilst he wasn't at all bored, he missed the time he could be spending with his friends. He was fascinated by the Book of Shadows and Piper, who was home often with the boys, was teaching him a great deal about potions and potion-making. She had even made some defensive potions to take back to school with him.

"Just in case," she told him when she handed him more than a dozen vials.

He was sitting down late one afternoon on the third day watching American TV. Laughing at a rerun of Friends, he heard the doorbell ring. He looked around to see who would answer it, but since Paige was at Magic School with the younger boys, Piper was at P3, Phoebe at the Bay Mirror and he had no idea where Cole was, he decided that the chore fell into his lap.

Harry walked casually towards the door and opened it up wide to see a tall Caucasian man with bright blue eyes and a beautiful young woman with long, dark, curly hair standing in the doorway.

The man spoke quickly to Harry, edging into the house.

"Special Agent DiNozzo and this is Officer David. NCIS."

--

A/N: Ooooo, yes I have become hooked on NCIS too, but I don't think I'll add them to the story. Just a couple of chapters cameo. Let me know what you think.


	4. NCIS?

A/N: Hey everyone. I know some people loved the cameo and some people hated it, but either way it's not a huge part of this story. Just filling in some time while I figure out how to get to my destination (the end of the story). I threw NCIS in there coz I'm hooked on it at the moment and Tony and Ziva are my favourite characters (yes, I'm a TIVA shipper and no, this will not be a TIVA fic). Thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Charmed, Harry Potter or NCIS and I'm not making a profit from this story.

**Chapter Four: NCIS?**

"NCI-" Harry questioned before the woman cut him off.

"S. We're looking for Paige Halliwell," she told him sternly as they flashed their badges.

Harry was unnerved. This woman did not sound like someone he should cross.

"She's at work," he replied uncertainly, "She should be home within the next twenty minutes, though."

"Can we come in?" Tony asked patiently.

Harry nodded and led them into the hallway. If he had learnt anything from the American TV shows that he'd been watching, it was that you don't say no to the cops.

"If you'd like to wait in here," Harry said as he directed them into the living room, "I'll be right back. I'll just... ring Paige and let her know that you're here."

And he ran upstairs to his room to send a letter to Paige using Hedwig. Somehow, his owl was able to cross the magical divide and get into Magic School, so hopefully Paige would receive the letter soon.

He walked back downstairs and into the living room to see the two agents still standing where they were when he'd left them.

"Uh," he said slowly, "She'll be right here. May I ask what this is concerning?"

Harry was trying to be very polite, but he couldn't imagine that cops at the Halliwell Manor was a good thing.

"Who are you?" Ziva asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Harry.

"Harry Potter, ma'm," he replied as Ziva looked disdainful, "I'm in America on holidays until I go back to school in England." Harry said this all very quickly and couldn't imagine what he had said to offend Officer David.

Harry was about to speak again when he heard the front door opening. He turned around to see Cole walking in with Jaxon in his arms.

"Hello?" he questioned, looking at the two agents.

"Special Agent DiNozzo," Tony said extending his hand for Cole to shake.

Cole shook it uncertainly. "Cole Turner."

"And this is Officer David," Tony continued, "We're from NCIS and we're looking for Paige Halliwell. By any chance, Mr Turner, do you know this man?"

He took a photo out of his pocket and showed it to Cole.

"I'm sorry, no," Cole replied after looking at the picture of the man, "I have not been staying here for long, though. I am a businessman and spend most of my time in other countries."

"And you live here?" Ziva asked.

"When I'm in San Francisco, which is as often as I can manage," Cole replied, "And Harry is the son of a friend of mine. He's here on holidays until he goes back to school."

Ziva noted this and continued to question him. "And your relation to the Halliwells is?"

"Well, I'm Phoebe's, uh, ex-husband, well, boyfriend, um, partner," he answered confusedly, "We have two sons."

Tony was in awe of the older man, clearly not understanding the twisted story of their past. Ziva was about to ask another question when Paige entered the dwelling through the front door.

"Hello?" she called out as she walked into the hallway.

"In the living room," Cole answered.

She walked in and turned to Harry. "I got your message. Thanks."

"Special Agent DiNozzo and Officer David. NCIS," Tony said, clearly irritated by having to introduce the duo thrice in ten minutes, "Do you know this man?" He showed her the photograph that he'd shown Cole.

"Mr. Stewart?" Paige whispered, shocked to see the barely recognisable and mangled face of one of her employers when she was working as a temp.

"Yes," Ziva replied, taking the photo back from her, "Daniel Stewart and his family were brutally murdered yesterday. His wife was a Navy commander liaising with Homeland Security."

Silence rang through the house. Cole, choosing to rely on the abilities he had attained during his stint as an ADA, broke the awkwardness.

"I'm going to hazard a guess that you have questions for Paige, then," he said, looking eye-to-eye with Ziva, "Else you would not be here."

Ziva nodded her head slightly to acknowledge the correct nature of Cole's statement. Out of the corner of his eye, Cole saw a flash of white lights and Chris appear a moment later. The young whitelighter signalled to him to come over.

"Excuse me," Cole then said, walking over to Chris in the hallway.

"What is it?" Cole whispered quickly.

"Karychak demons," Chris replied simply, "Who are they?"

"NCIS agents. They want to question Paige about the murder of one of her former bosses and his Navy commander wife."

Chris took a breath as he took in the information Cole was feeding him. "Well, then I suggest you tread carefully. But the most pressing issue right now is that these demons are about to attack and there are mortals in our living room."

"Okay. Okay. I'll think of something." And with that Cole walked back into the room.

"We're expecting visitors and I do not want to impress upon them any thoughts of ill-favour. I'd prefer if we did this somewhere else. You're place maybe?"

"Fine," said Tony, speaking after a long silence, "We can go back to the field office in San Francisco."

"Great," said Cole, collecting his stuff and grabbing Paige by the arm, leading her towards the front door, Tony and Ziva following closely behind. They looked at him suspiciously, wondering if he was joining him.

"Lawyer," Cole told them simply.

The two agents exchanged dark glances but did not dispute Cole's decision. They walked to the dark blue sedan and hopped in, Cole and Paige sitting in the back. With one last look at the Manor, they drove out of Prescott Street.

**oOo**

"Okay, they're gone," Chris shouted to the remaining Halliwells as they prepared for a demonic attack.

Harry had his wand at the ready, however, he was asked not to use it unless it were a dire emergency. Cole did not want the wrath of Rufus Scrimgeour coming down on his place of residence, so Phoebe made sure that he was well stocked up on potions at all times when he was staying at the Manor and even taught him some kick-arse martial arts moves.

"The Karychak demon is very similar in looks to the Manticore," Piper told them loudly as she walked down the stairs, the Book of Shadows in her arms, "They also travel in a herd, but unlike the Manticores, they have great strength in numbers."

"How is that different from the Manticores?" Phoebe questioned incredulously as she attempted to quickly write out a generic vanquishing spell, "Argh, this is not going to be strong enough without the Power of Three, anyway."

"Well, we better hope that Cole gets Paige out of her legal dilemma quickly, then," Chris said as he ran into the living room, searching for any indication that the demons would attack soon, "And to answer your question, Phoebe, Karychak demons are as strong as Manticores individually, but they wield a great power when they're together. So we probably can't vanquish them without Paige."

"It's okay, Chris," Harry said calmly, having been in this sort of high pressure situation a number of times, "We will get them eventually."

"You don't get it, Harry," Chris retorted, practically shouting, "This might be the future evil that gets to Wyatt. They might be attacking us to get to him so they could raise him as part of their clan. Do you have any idea how powerful they would become?"

Harry had not given Wyatt's future much thought since he found out Chris' true nature. In actual fact, he still thought that Voldemort was far more dangerous than the two-year-old that sat in front of him.

At that moment, a Karychak demon shimmered into the room. His scaly skin was a raw red and his tongue slithered out like a snake. He had green, cat-slit eyes and stood on four clawed legs. It barked loudly, making a sound similar to a Rottweiler, only deeper. Then a moment later, a fireball spewed from the monster's nostrils and headed in Chris' direction. He dived out of the way and it hit the television that Harry had been watching earlier, combusting it instantly into a hundred pieces.

Phoebe told the young boys to go to Magic School. Jaxon and Julian shimmered out and Wyatt orbed out as Harry ran into the kitchen to grab his vials and then dashed back into the blazing battle with his wand at the ready when another Karychak demon appeared. Piper was trying to blow up the first demon while Phoebe jump-kicked the second into a wall. Both the demons reared up against the back wall and sent fireballs at Piper, Phoebe and Chris. Phoebe responded by channelling their power and deflecting their magic, which caused them to scatter.

Harry then chose an opportune moment to throw the most powerful potion that Piper had made for him. He severely injured the nearest demon and he and Chris had to duck to avoid a fireball from the other one. The injured demon was now spurting out green blood by the pint, so the two monsters made the decision to gracefully withdraw, shimmering out of them room before Harry could hit them again.

"They will be back," Chris said as he got to his feet, "They always come back."


	5. Awkward Interrogations

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter, Charmed or NCIS and I am not making a profit from this story.

**Chapter Five: Awkward Interrogations**

Cole wondered how far away the NCIS office was. He needed to make sure that they were back in time to fight this new demonic threat.

"How long will it take?" Cole asked Ziva, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. Tony had not let her drive, even when she asked multiple times on the way to the car.

"About twenty minutes," she replied, looking back at Cole and Paige who were sitting comfortably in the back seat.

"Thank you," Cole replied politely, then voiced something that had been on his mind since he had met the two agents. "So, it's Officer David, right?"

Ziva nodded back, looking at him suspiciously.

"Not Special Agent?" he then questioned.

"I'm a liaison officer working with NCIS," she replied shortly.

"Really," Cole said, interested in anything other than the reason for them being in the car, "Where are you from then?"

She gave him a distrustful glance while she pondered how to answer his question. She chose to remain silent.

Cole took a leap of faith and continued to ask questions. He was hoping his somewhat expansive knowledge of the world would help.

"Well, the Star of David that you wear around your neck tells me that you're Jewish." Ziva instinctly rose her hand to her necklace.

"But you're not American," he continued, thinking about the many countries allied with the United States, "Israeli?"

"Very good, Mr. Turner," she replied condescendingly.

"Mossad, then?" Cole asked, secretly hoping that the answer was 'no.'

By Ziva's silence, Cole took the answer to be 'yes.'

"Metsada?" he dared to ask, "Or Komemiute, as it is called now?" Once again, she did not answer. Tony did look at her expectantly, however, which gave Cole all the information he needed. He was no longer looking forward to this interrogation.

"Perhaps you could ask questions now?" Cole then said, changing the subject rather obviously after a few moments of silence, "I want to get this over with quickly and we surely don't have anything to hide."

"No need," Tony replied, "We're here."

Cole let his mind wonder to what the others were doing as he got out of the car and followed Tony and Ziva into the building.

**oOo**

"Cole still isn't answering his phone," Phoebe announced as she walked into the attic where Harry and Piper were refilling vials of the super-potion.

"Well, he's probably in interrogation," Piper replied impatiently, "Make yourself useful and stir."

Phoebe huffed as she walked over to the cauldron to help her older sister.

"Do you think Paige is in trouble?" Phoebe asked after a couple of minutes of silent and energetic stirring, "I mean, she attacked that guy with a flowerpot!"

Harry burst out laughing. "A flowerpot? Really?"

"Well, actually it was a vase and he was harassing one of her workmates, but the real problem is that she used magic," Piper explained.

"I see," Harry said quietly, starting to grasp the seriousness of Paige's imminent situation. If Cole couldn't convince those agents that Paige had nothing to do with the Stewart family murder, then they might start digging around into the Paige's life.

"I wonder how lawyer Cole is now?" Phoebe said lightly.

**oOo**

Paige followed Cole closely as they walked into the government building. "What exactly is NCIS?" she whispered, "I gather some sort of government agency?"

"Naval Criminal Investigative Service," Cole whispered back, "Sort of the Navy version of the FBI. Your employer's wife was a Navy commander."

Paige nodded and fell silent, still walking closely behind Cole and the NCIS agents as they walked into the elevator.

Tony directed them into an interrogation room and closed the door behind them. He walked into the room next to it and looked through the glass with Ziva.

"How long are we meant to wait here?" Tony asked Ziva, who shrugged.

The door opened and their boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, walked into the room.

"You going in, boss?" Tony asked brightly.

"No," Gibbs replied simply, "You two are." And he handed them a manila folder.

Ziva nodded, taking the folder and flicking through it, before handing it to Tony.

"Okay," she said as she walked into the interrogation room, Tony following closely behind, his head buried in the contents of the folder.

Ziva sat down in front of them, handing them each a bottle of water. Paige made a move to grab hers, but Cole pulled back her arm and shook his head.

Ziva ignored this and began the interrogation. "The last time you were seen coming out of Daniel Stewart's office, he was lying on the floor. Apparently he had been hit over the head with jug of flowers."

Cole looked peculiarly at the officer as Tony nudged her and whispered, "It's a vase, not a jug."

Ziva shook him off and waited for Paige to answer.

"It fell," she lied very unconvincingly. Ziva looked down at her shrewdly as Tony let out a laugh.

"Really?" Tony asked mockingly, "Alright, but why were you in there in the first place?"

Paige looked to Cole and he beckoned her to answer. But she did not get the chance. Cole's phone vibrated in his pocket and he looked to see who was calling. Seeing that it was not Phoebe again, he decided to answer.

"Since when do you call my cell phone, Remus?" Cole asked into the phone.

"I need your help," his comrade replied, "Can you come to London?"

"Sure, I'll catch the next flight."

"What-" Lupin began, before Cole cut him off.

"Look, I'm kind of busy. Can I call you back?"

"Cole, this is serious-" Cole hung up on him, starting to wish he had not answered.

Tony and Ziva gave Cole a stern look, as if to ask why he had dared to answer his phone in the middle of an interrogation. Cole ignored them and looked at Paige, signalling her to answer Tony's question.

"Well, he wanted to see one of my colleagues, Flo," she began, "He was being a jerk, saying he was going to fire her if she didn't date him, so I kinda gave him a piece of my mind and left. That vase was on hanging on the ledge, so it was his fault really, anyway."

"We've spoken to Flo Reynolds," Ziva said, "She confirms the harassment. Did you know that he was married?"

"No," Paige replied exasperatedly, "And I didn't know about the kids, either."

"Okay," Tony said, coolly leaning up against the glass, "And I guess you didn't threaten to beat him to a pulp with your disabled colleague's prosthetic leg, either?"

"What?" Paige shouted, incensed by the accusation, "Look maybe once or twice."

"Four times, actually," Ziva replied, pulling a number of pages out of the file, "Sent anonymously in the weeks after you quit the job."

"He was still harassing my friend!" Paige yelled, getting to her feet. Cole pulled her back down again.

"Okay," Cole said slowly, "Look, I'm pretty sure this crime requires motive, means and opportunity and you have, thus far, proved that my client had any of them. So we'll be going now."

"These letters," Ziva said, sliding them across the desk, "Are motive enough."

"For Stewart, maybe," Cole replied somewhat insensitively, "But for the man's entire family? This sounds more like a fishing expedition, but guess what, no more bait. We're leaving."

Tony walked over to the Cole and stood between him and the door.

"Unless you're going to charge her with anything?" Cole questioned, smirking.

"Not at present," Tony replied and allowed them to pass.

Cole guided Paige out the door and handed his card to Tony. "If you have any further queries, let me know first." And he walked towards the elevator.

"Do you think she was involved in this?" Tony asked Ziva after they had gone.

"No," she replied hardheartedly, "But she is involved in something. The lawyer's smart. He wouldn't let us get her DNA."

Tony looked blankly as Ziva walked away.

'_What could that woman possibly be involved with?'_ his head screamed.

**oOo**

"Okay, we'll walk down a few streets, in case they follow," Cole told Paige in a low voice as they exited from the NCIS building, "And you can orb home. I have to go to London quickly, so I'll shimmer there."

Paige nodded to indicate that she had heard him. "What about these demons? How long will you be? We may need your help to fight them."

"You seem to kick demon ass just fine when I'm at Hogwarts," Cole replied, defending himself, "Okay, this is far enough. I should be back within an hour, okay?"

Paige gave a half-asked shrug and orbed out. Cole looked around to make sure it was still safe to shimmer. He saw the alley disappear before him in a haze and them found himself under a tree in the dimly lit English town of Catchpole. He walked up to Ottery Street and knocked on the front door of the Weasley residence.

"Speak," he heard a hoarse and slightly exhausted voice say through the door.

"It's Cole Turner, Remus," Cole replied, waiting for the security question.

"How many ladies did you pick up at that Irish pub we went to last week?"

"Four," Cole replied, laughing as Remus opened the door, "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Phoebe."

Lupin laughed too, slapping his pal on the back. "I'll catch the next flight?" he questioned, looking at Cole incredulously.

"What was I meant to say?" he replied as he sat down in the living room with his sometimes hairy friend, "I was in an interrogation with Muggle police."

"Oh dear God, what did you do now?"

"Oh, I was just helping Paige out. One of her former employers was murdered. They brought her in for questioning. You should've seen this chick playing with her knife in the car ride there. Freaking assassin. Hot. Sexy. But bloody psychotic."

"Mmm, sounds like your type. Police have assassins now?"

"They weren't really cops. FBI-sort actually. You know what I'm talking about?"

Lupin hesitated for a moment, drawing in his knowledge of the Muggle world. "Yes," he replied slowly, remembering reading about them.

"Anyway," Cole continued, "I thought you needed to speak with me urgently."

"Oh, don't worry," Lupin replied in a relaxed voice, "False alarm, really. Kingsley been a bit on edge. But I think we need to put extra security around the Muggle prime minister. An assassination would throw the entire Muggle world in Britain into chaos."

"Whilst it'll make more sense to try and control the mind of the Prime Minister. They can't control him when he's dead, but I do see your point. Either way, I agree, he needs further security. I'll see what I can do. Anyway, I have to return home. Demon attack and I know the girls will want my input. I'll try and come by sometime tomorrow. Actually we should set up a meet with Kingsley."

"Good idea," Lupin replied as he stood up and followed his friend towards the door, "Here?"

"No," Cole answered opening the door, "Somewhere public. And I mean in the Muggle world. I'll find somewhere and let both of you know. See you then."

And he walked out, closing the door behind him. With one last look at the English countryside, he shimmered back to the city of San Francisco.


	6. Balancing Work and Play

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Charmed or Harry Potter and I am not making a profit from this story.

**Chapter Six: Balancing Work and Play**

"Ah, the triumphant return," Harry said loudly as Cole walked into the living room, "Phoebe's gonna kill you."

Cole smiled as he headed up to the attic. "How's it going?"

"Great," Piper answered as Phoebe looked at him irately, "We're just working on a vanquishing potion for the Karychak demons and we should be set."

"Why didn't you come back with Paige?" Phoebe finally said, voicing her anger, "We could've used you."

"Well, I needed to check up on some things in London," Cole answered patiently, though he could feel it dwindling, "I am in charge of many operations for the Order this year. Besides, you can fight demons without me. You did it before I came along and after I left, so don't tell me that you desperately needed me."

"Fine, Cole," his girlfriend replied angrily, getting up and walking downstairs.

The look on Piper's face told Cole that he had better follow her. And so he did.

"Phoebe," he said softly, entering their bedroom, "I know what's bothering you more."

"Do you, really?" she replied tearfully, "Somehow I doubt that, because if you did, you would be here, not chasing Death Eaters on the other side of the world."

"What will you have me do? I get it. We never get any time to ourselves. Ever. But when this war is over-"

"What, Cole?" she said, cutting him off, "We'll be together. There'll be another war and another, because it is a vicious cycle that will never stop until you are dead."

"I am not abandoning my cause. Please don't ask me to."

"I'm not! I just want to see you every now and again. Maybe to go on a date that doesn't end with 'Sorry, hun, I gotta go. There's giant activity in Northern England.' I just want you."

Cole looked away from her, as drew nearer to him, then, going against his better judgment, he kissed her forcefully, pulling away when he realised that Phoebe was manipulating him.

"I know. I understand, but I can't leave this alone," he said moving away from her slightly.

She looked at him suspiciously, then turned and walked out.

Cole kicked the door closed before sending a message to Kingsley and Lupin, letting them know the where and when for their meeting the following day.

**oOo**

Cole arrived at the meeting point, a cafe in the centre of London, a half hour early. He was paranoid that his message may have been intercepted by the wrong people and knew, from his demonic training, that arriving at a designated meeting spot early was the best way to avoid an ambush. He waited patiently for his friends to arrive.

Lupin arrived first, but Kingsley was only a minute behind him.

"Were either of you two followed?" Cole asked quickly.

They both responded that they were pretty sure that they weren't. But Cole was not taking any chances.

"Let's walk for a bit." They followed him down the street, where they got into a taxi that drove them to Piccadilly Circus. They got out, Kingsley paid the driver and then took another taxi to a cafe on the outskirts of the city.

"Was that all really necessary?" Lupin asked as they sat down to eat lunch.

"Just making sure we weren't followed," Kingsley explained, "Right?"

Cole nodded and read his menu. The three men did not speak of the Order or anything magical until after lunch was served. They knew the waiters would not interrupt them then.

"So, what news, Kinsgley?" Cole began, "Should I be worried?"

"I think so, Cole," he replied, "I have heard chatter that the Death Eaters are going to use Muggles to assassinate the Prime Minister here in Britain."

"Terrorists?" Cole questioned.

"More than likely," Kingsley answered in his low, deep voice, "But I am unsure of which group, or even which type. All I know is that they'll have a common interest in creating turmoil in the Muggle Western world."

"Well, I can think of more than fifty groups that would want to see that."

"Just a question," Lupin said, finally speaking, "Shouldn't we leave this to the Muggles, then?"

"Not if Death Eaters are going to be behind it," Cole answered, "But we will need to work in correlation with the right authorities. Do you still have that friend in MI6?"

Kingsley nodded.

"Good," Cole continued, "I have a friend who works for the National Security Agency, who can put me in touch with someone from the CIA, but we need to tread carefully. We don't want to risk exposure."

"I agree, Cole," Kinsgley said, slightly agitated, "But we need to protect the Muggle Prime Minister. And I think at any cost."

Cole looked down at his food and nodded slightly. "Can you set up a meet with your MI6 contact in Liverpool? We need to get the ball rolling and find out which organisation the Death Eaters mean to use."

"Sure," Kingsley replied, "I'll get right on that. And this friend of mine knows about Hekabeic magic so we can talk fairly openly."

"Excellent," Cole said, getting to his feet, "Well, let me know. We'll talk some more later on, but I need to get back to Phoebe. I promised to take her out tonight."

He bid his friends farewell and walked out of the cafe and around to an alley. Checking that nobody else was around, he shimmered back to the Manor.

**oOo**

"So tell me what happened with the Karychak demons?" Cole said smiling, "I heard that you seriously kicked some demonic ass."

"No thanks to you," Phoebe muttered under her breath, but then chose not to go down the harsh path, "You seem agitated." She took Cole's left hand in her own. He had agreed to take her out to dinner that night and Paige was watching the boys.

"Just worried is all," Cole responded, but did not care to elaborate.

"Well, what's been going on?" Phoebe asked, trying to seem supportive.

Cole did not answer at first, but then decided to ask his own question. "I thought you were sick of the war in England?"

"No," she replied forcefully, "I was sick of you getting up and leaving in the middle of our precious little time together to deal with the war in England. But since that is all you seem interested in, I thought it better that we at least talk about something then remain here silent."

Cole was non-responsive at first. "How was work?" he finally said, anxious not to get into another fight, especially in front of a dozen other couples.

"Great," she replied happily, "My column is really taking off since I developed my empathy power."

"I bet it is," he replied, smiling. There happy, yet seemingly pointless, conversation continued for the next fifteen minutes, but was interrupted by phone ringing. Phoebe was not at all surprised to learn that it was Cole's. She was hoping, however, that he would not answer it. Cole knew this, so without even looking at the caller ID, he shut his phone off.

Phoebe smiled, but her happiness was short-lived as a few seconds later, Cole's pager went off.

"Look, this must be important, else they would not be bothering me so," Cole said ardently. He looked at his pager and then took his phone out and dialled a number.

"This had better be important," he said as the receiver picked up.

"I have a meeting set up-" But Cole cut Kingsley off.

"I will call you from a secure line tonight," he replied quickly, "It's not safe for us to be talking about this so openly."

"Are you sure all this secrecy is really necessary?" Kingsley pressed, "I think you're being slightly paranoid."

"Maybe I am, but you'll thank me when the Death Eaters aren't discovering our secret plans because they've been tapping our phones, ay?" And he hung up without giving Kingsley a chance to respond.

"Don't look at me like that," Cole told his beautiful date, who was now wearing a very sour look, "It was an important phone call."

"Why are you bothering to call from a secure line, may I ask?" she said rather relentlessly.

Cole shrugged, not at all willing to elaborate on the nature of his current predicament. Phoebe said nothing more and went back to her fish. Their date continued without any more glitches.


	7. Friends in High Places

A/N: Hey everyone. Reposting this chapter coz I needed to add some things. There's only a few minor changes, but if you've alreayd read the chapter i suggest you go through this one again.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Charmed or Harry Potter and I'm not making a profit from this story. The eco-terrorist group in this story is fictional and bears no ties to the actual Earth Liberation Front.

**Chapter Seven: Friends in High Places**

Julian screamed as his big brother ripped his Tickle-Me-Elmo from his arms.

"I wanna play with Elmo," the older boy shouted, poking his tongue out as Julian chased him, still screaming.

Phoebe walked into the living room to see what the commotion was about. She chuckled as she took Elmo and gave it back to Julian. Jaxon merely shrugged and sat down to watch Peter Pan on the TV.

"What are they screaming about now?" Piper said groggily, walking down the stairs.

"Piper!" Phoebe shouted out, "I told you to stay in bed and get some sleep. It's fine. Jaxon just took Julian's Elmo."

Piper shook her head. "Oh, I'm sick of bed. All you guys expect me to do is sleep. I'm pregnant, not terminal." And she walked into the kitchen to make some tea.

Phoebe settled Julian down, gave him a biscuit and followed her older sister.

"So, how was the date last night?" Piper asked as she poured herself a cup of tea.

"It was okay," Phoebe replied, looking in the fridge, "I mean his phone rang once, but otherwise it wasn't too bad."

"Well, what do you expect? I mean, he's like Dumbledore's second and they a fighting a war against Voldemort. It's kind of important, Phoebe. Honestly, I don't know how Cole puts up with your whining sometimes. What exactly are you looking for?"

Phoebe was now pulling things out of the fridge. "My salad."

"Oh yeah, I was hungry and too busy chasing your sons around to make something," Piper replied, looking down.

Phoebe huffed, but did not complain. After all, Piper was babysitting for her a fair bit. As Phoebe was about to get up, Harry walked in with Ron and Hermione, who had come to visit for the day.

"Hey," Harry said as his friends bid them hello as well, "Do you know where Cole is?"

"Probably London," Phoebe answered nonchalantly, "Did you get all your stuff for Hogwarts today?"

Harry nodded and walked back into the living room, his friends stalking behind him.

"I'm gonna miss him when he goes back to school," Piper stated, slightly downtrodden.

**oOo**

Cole had left the Burrow with Lupin early that morning. They were preparing to meet with Kingsley's MI6 contact in a motel in Liverpool. Again, they took a round-about way to their destination to make sure they weren't being followed. This time they hired a car, parked it in a small street in Liverpool and then took a taxi to the motel, stopping two streets away from it and walking the rest of the way.

"Did you really learn all this during your time as a demon?" Lupin asked, running a bit to keep up with Cole's long and quick-paced stride.

"Not really," he replied, "I learnt to avoid being tracked when I was stationed above ground. It's a Muggle method."

They walked up the stairs to the top level and knocked on the door and room number 205. A dark-haired man in his early 40s answered the door. They could see Kingsley in the room as well, who nodded to the man. After looking Cole and Lupin up and down, he decided to let them in.

"Are you armed?" the man asked, specifically talking to Cole.

"No, but I don't think it would matter," Cole replied disdainfully.

"You?" he questioned Lupin.

"Only my wand," Lupin replied.

The man nodded, apparently deeming their answers sufficient. "You must understand the manner in which I ask you those questions. It is a dangerous business."

Cole did not speak, but gave a glare that strongly suggested he knew what the man was talking about.

"Cody Arlington," the man said, holding his hand out to Cole, who shook it.

"Cole Turner."

"Remus Lupin," Lupin said, also shaking the man's hand.

"Shall we sit?" Arlington said, jerking his head in the direction of a small table with four chairs.

They sat down around the table and Arlington pulled out a file marked _'Top Secret'_ and _'Confidential.'_ He handed it to Cole, acknowledging that the teacher was the leader of their small group.

"Environmentalists?" Cole questioned, confused, as he pulled some photos out of the file.

"Extremists," Arlington answered, "A radical sect of the Earth Liberation Front. No doubt upset over the government's recent policies to allocate more land for development or our good relations with companies that dump toxic waste into natural environments. Same old."

"Goddamn hippies," Cole muttered, "Whilst I agree with their cause, I reject these methods." He showed his colleagues a photograph of a protest group who set fire to an industrial community in North-West Europe.

"Is this the organisation that Voldemort means to use to assassinate the Prime Minister?" Lupin asked.

"Our intel indicates so," Arlington explained, "It's reliable enough, but they have set up headquarters somewhere in Eastern Europe. Romania or Hungary is likely, but we are still unsure."

"We will need to infiltrate them," Cole said slowly and Kingsley nodded, "We need a way in, though. A front. Can you help us out?"

Arlington nodded and then answered. "I'll see what I can do. Shacklebolt says that you have a friend in the NSA. There are a lot of Americans in this group. Perhaps he can put you in touch with someone who can better help you."

"We need someone magical undercover," Cole affirmed, "A witch would be a good idea. They may be less suspicious of a woman."

"I agree," Kingsely responded, "An Auror. Someone who works for the Order, too. We should talk to Tonks."

"I don't think it is a good idea to involve Tonks in this investigation," Lupin said a little too quickly, "I just think that she has been through too much already."

"Well, she's gonna have to get over it, 'cos she's our best bet," Cole replied, "We may need your help on this, Cody."

"I'll do whatever I can to help you, just let me know."

"Great, well I must be going. Only call me if it is important this weekend. I'm going away to Disneyland with Phoebe, her sisters, the kids and Harry and I don't really want to interrupt it."

"Ahahaha," Kingsley said, laughing, "Still trying to balance Phoebe and the Order. Good luck. I won't call unless it's important. We'll talk on Monday, then?"

"Sure," Cole replied and he shimmered back to their rental car with Lupin.

They got into the car and Lupin apparated back to the Burrow while Cole drove the car back to London.

**oOo**

The holiday turned out to be just hat Cole needed. It was relaxing and took his mind off the war in England. However, the following Monday morning, Cole launched himself back into his previous mindset and visited his friend from the National Security Agency.

They had an interesting back-story. He met Tariq Shaheen when he was on the run from the Source. His team had intercepted a phone call from an organisation of mercenary demons to a Muggle contract assassin. Shaheen was about to turn the case over to the FBI when he met Cole, who was attempting to track them down as well. Shaheen was MIA for a few days, but when he resurfaced, he had marked the case as solved, telling his superiors that he received intel from other agencies. The two were in contact for a while afterwards, but had not spoken in more than two years.

"Cole, it's good to see you," Shaheen said as he embraced his friend.

"It's been a long time, Tariq. How have you been? How's the wife?" Cole asked politely.

"Good. We just had a little girl and she is beautiful."

"Congratulations," Cole replied smiling.

"And how is your family?" Shaheen asked, sitting down in the very loud and boisterous cafe, "You still with Phoebe?"

"Well, we weren't together for a while last year," Cole answered unsurely, "But we're together now. And we have two sons. Jaxon and Julian."

"Really? That sounds like an interesting story."

"For another time, perhaps," Cole replied, pulling out the MI6 file and handing it to Shaheen, "Our intelligence, as well as the British MI6, indicate that Voldemort is going to use an eco-terrorist group to assassinate the Prime Minister."

"Okay," Shaheen replied, drawing out the syllable, "And this Voldemort is?"

"Oh right," Cole said, chuckling a little, "Let's go with the whole world domination theory. He's powerful enough in the British magical community."

At the word 'magical,' Shaheen's ears perked up and he looked around him to make sure that nobody else could hear their conversation.

"Calm down," Cole said in a relaxed voice, "It's so loud in here that I can't even hear myself think."

"Okay, so what do you need me for?"

"This group," Cole replied simply, "The, uh, Earth Liberation Front or at least an extremist group inside it. I need to get one of my members undercover."

"Right," Shaheen replied nervously, "Well, we have had an agent undercover with them before. Actually we still have one agent with them."

Cole looked disbelievingly. "How did NSA get an agent-" But his friend cut him off.

"You think a group of radical eco-terrorists don't have scientists?" Shaheen replied in astonishment, "I would suggest a woman."

"Got one in mind. All I need is the cover. What can you do for me?"

"Perhaps a little bit of inter-agency cooperation. The same CIA operative that helped me out with them before may help me again. Plus then I won't need to explain the investigation. I can say it's similar to the last time. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Tariq. The fate of the world rests on your shoulders."

Shaheen laughed and Cole picked up the bill.

"No, Tariq," Cole said, seeing that his friend has his wallet out, "Paying for lunch is the least I could do."

They bid each other farewell and left. Cole watched his friend get into his car and then walked into an alley and shimmered to the Burrow.


	8. Return to Hogwarts

A/N: Hey everyone. I made some changes to Chapter 7 (Friends in High Places) yesterday, so I suggest you go back and read it. Thanks for the reviews, guys.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Harry Potter or Charmed and I am not making a profit from this story.

**Chapter Eight: Return to Hogwarts**

Cole tried to spend as much of his last month of holidays at home with Phoebe and the boys. However, the covert operation that he was now in control of was sapping into all of his spare time. The day after he met with NSA Special Agent Tariq Shaheen, he went to see Tonks, telling her about the investigation and asking for her opinion. She already knew what to expect when he asked her if she would go undercover.

Cole knew how much rested upon the success of her mission, so they planned every facet of it very slowly and carefully. It had now become a common occurrence to see Cole, Tonks, Kingsley and Lupin sitting around the Halliwell dining room table in deep discussion on how Tonks would approach the group, gain acceptance and report back anything she learnt. They had planned to get her undercover by the middle of September.

The thirty-first of August came far too quickly for Cole's liking. Yes, it was true, he enjoyed teaching, but he would've preferred to spend his time working for the Order. He was shocked to realise that he hadn't actually spoken to Professor Dumbledore since he picked Harry up from the Burrow.

"Are you packed for tomorrow?" Cole asked Harry, seeing the teenager walk into the kitchen. It was late the night before they returned to Hogwarts.

"Yes, sir," Harry replied gravely.

"Not looking forward to it?"

"It's just different," Harry answered as he sat down next to Cole, "I feel like I should be doing something more important."

"Well, so do I," Cole replied, "But your education is important and it's important for me to be there to teach you."

Harry nodded but remained silent. In truth, he was looking forward to seeing all his friends again and he knew that he would be received much better this year than he was last year, but he felt like Voldemort's constant attacks against the wizarding and Muggle community left a gaping hole in his heart. He felt drawn to his destiny.

"You should get some sleep," Cole said finally, "Paige is going to take you the station tomorrow. I'll see you at the feast, okay?"

Harry nodded again. "Goodnight, sir."

"Goddnight, Harry."

**oOo**

Cole shimmered to the Burrow the following afternoon. The members of the Order were already back from meeting Harry at the station and ensuring he got on board the Hogwarts Express safely.

"Alright," Cole said, sitting down. The rest of the members present followed suit. "Tonks, you're going to stay with the Halliwells for the next two or three weeks, starting Monday, in your disguise under the name of your alias. Work on that American accent. Here's your documentation."

Cole handed her a file with a passport, birth certificate, credit card, bank statements and address of the apartment she was previously renting in New York City.

"Sophie Gabrielle Moreau?" Tonks said, stifling a laugh, "French?"

"Don't look at me," Cole said defensively, "I didn't come up with it. I told Agent Shaheen that you were fluent in French as well. Obviously, he thought a French American was our best way in."

"Okay, I'm not complaining," Tonks replied, still trying not to laugh, "I have been practicing my French with Fleur."

"Seriously?" Cole asked incredulously.

Tonks shrugged and turned into the persona of her alias. Dark curly hair and bright blue eyes, she bore a striking resemblance to Eva Green.

"How am I going under?" Tonks-Sophie then asked.

"NSA already have a woman in the organisation and she is going to be your way in," Cole explained, showing her a photo of her new contact, "Her name is Madeline Keating, or at least that is the name of her alias, and she believes that you are MI6. So act like a sexy female spy."

"Chill, Cole. I've got that down pat," she answered giving him a very flirtatious smile.

"Okay, great. I have to go. I have one more stop to make before I go back to Hogwarts," Cole said, standing up.

"Picking up Julian?" Lupin asked.

"No, he's coming with Dalton in two days time. I've gotta meet up with someone. So, I'll see you on Monday at the Halliwell Manor, Sophie?"

"Fine," she replied as Cole shimmered out.

**oOo**

Cole had shimmered to the longitude and latitude that his friend had given him, but was shocked to find himself on a white, sandy beach, the waves crashing against his shoes. He jumped away from the surf to avoid getting any more wet. It was very warm and humid, but also completely deserted.

Cole heard a swirl of chime-like noises and turned around. He saw his friend orb in right behind him. "Are we in the Caribbean, Sirius?"

"What?!" Sirius questioned insolently, laughing at his friend's wet shoes, "I like it here. There are some gorgeous chickas on the other side of this island."

Cole smiled, knowing that he had missed his old friend dearly. He had not seen him since that fateful day where he revealed his existence only to Cole.

"Have you heard about what's been happening in Britain?" Cole asked, his voice changing to a serious tone.

"I know that you are hot on the trail of an eco-terrorist organisation that Voldemort means to use to assassinate the Muggle Prime Minister. And I know that you plan to use Tonks to infiltrate that group."

"That sounds about right."

"I think you should revisit the Tonks idea. She's like Moaning Myrtle cubed these days."

"I know, but she was very excited to do it. Plus I need a woman who can handle it. She's an Auror, so I know that she definitely can."

"Yeah, but I'm not sure that she can handle it at the moment," Sirius stressed out, seemingly very worried, "Maybe you should ask Remus to talk to her about it."

"Remus, HA!" Cole exclaimed, "If you missed that part of the story, he's the reason she's like this, so I think it'll be better for her to get away from him for a few months."

"Maybe you're right. Or at least I hope you are."

"I hope so, too. Listen we need to catch up more often. I wanted to ask you if you would keep a close eye on the wizarding community. I feel like something big is about to happen."

"I think you may be right. You should see how the Elders are acting. But they won't let me hear any of it."

"So? You're good at eavesdropping."

"Yeah, but they're better at keeping me out."

"Oh come on. They're a million years old and you're a Marauder."

"Okay, Cole. I'll do my best and see what I can find out from them."

"Great. I'll send you a message so we can catch you again soon. I have to go to Hogwarts now. Feast will be starting in a few hours and I need to sort out some stuff first."

"Sounds like fun. I'll see you later then, Cole."

"Yeah, bye." And Cole shimmered out, leaving Sirius alone enjoying the warm, afternoon breeze on the beautifully deserted beach.

**oOo**

_Meanwhile on the Hogwarts Express..._

Harry felt very uncomfortable to be in the same compartment as Slughorn. _'Invited to a party?!'_ he questioned himself loudly, _'Who holds a party on a train?'_

He was looking around at the other students. He recognised a Slytherin boy in his year, a tall black boy by the name of Blaise Zabini who had high cheekbones and long slanting eyes. He did not know who the boy standing beside him was, a young boy, probably only first or second year, with lighter tanned skin and curly, dark hair. He soon learnt that the boy was Zabini's younger brother, Connor.

Looking forward to the end of the party, he formulated a plan to follow the Zabinis back to the Slytherin compartment. Slipping his Invisibilty Cloak over his back, he managed to slip into the compartment relatively undetected and managed to hop up on to the luggage rack. He saw Malfoy laying across two seats, his head on Pansy Parkinson. The younger Zabini boy, Connor, went and sat next another young boy with short, blonde spiky hair and a pale face.

Harry listened intensely to their conversation, but he was drawn to the fact that Malfoy was constantly taunting the young blonde boy. After what seemed like hours and a throbbing headache later, the train slowed down and came to a complete stop. The Slytherins left, but Malfoy remained behind. Harry was confused until he heard Malfoy say, _"Petrificus Totalus!"_

He found himself paralysed without any warning. Malfoy pulled off his Cloak, stepped on his nose, breaking it, and threw the Cloak back over him.

"I don't reckon they'll find you till the train's back in London," Malfoy said quietly, "See you around... or not."

Malfoy tread on his fingers as he walked out of the compartment, leaving Harry alone with nobody to help him.


	9. Welcome the Change

A/N: Hey everyone. Shorter chapter here. Next one will be longer, I finally wanna get into this storyline.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Harry Potter or Charmed and I am not making a profit from this story.

**Chapter Nine: Welcome the Change**

Cole was looking around for Harry, thinking that amidst the mass of students coming into the Great hall, he must have missed him, but five minutes of searching yielded no result and Cole was starting to worry.

_'Tonks,'_ Cole spoke inside his mind, _'Harry did not get off the train.'_

They had spent the past month, ever since Cole had suggested that she go undercover, learning and practicing telepathy to such a degree that they could communicate with each other within a radius of around a few kilometres.

Cole was unable to sit still during the Sorting, fidgeting and drawing unattractive glances from a number of his colleagues. He was, however, distracted from his worries by one name that McGonagall called out.

"Malfoy," she shouted as a few members of the crowd gasped. Cole looked up immediately. "Dominic."

A small, pale boy with short, spiky blonde hair trampled up to the stool and sat as McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head.

"Hmmm, what a marvellous, yet troubled, young mind we have here," the Hat said in his deep, slow voice, "You were born into that house, but you don't belong there."

By this stage, Dominic looked positively frightened.

"But I know just where to put you," the Hat continued as everybody in the Hall, including Cole, held their breath, "RAVENCLAW!"

If it was even possible, Dominic looked more frightened than he was on the stool. But it was Draco Malfoy that looked absolutely murderous. He knew that his master was not going to be pleased.

A few Ravenclaws cheered, Luna Lovegood cheering the loudest, as Dominic sat down at the table.

The crowd died down as McGonagall went on to the next name. Cole went back his worrying about Harry, until he heard the name of the last student.

"Zabini, Connor," McGonagall called out as a small, dark-skinned boy stepped forward. Cole recognised the surname of one of his sixth-year Slytherins. And he was also shocked to hear that the boy was sorted into Ravenclaw.

And so the Sorting ended, quite unexpectedly, with two boys of Slytherin descent shuffled into Ravenclaw. Cole had a feeling that it would cause some rifts in the Death Eater family, especially for Dominic Malfoy.

The Feast continued and still there was no sign of Harry. At last, he appeared as desert was being served. If Cole thought that the unforeseen twist in the Sorting attracted glares from people, it was nothing compared to the looks that Harry got. Not only was he late to the Feast, but his face was plastered with dry blood.

He sat by Ron and Hermione, who did her best to clean him up and the awkward tension soon sifted off.

The Feast ended and slowly the students filed out of the Hall and walked to their dorms. Cole got up from the staff table quickly and sprinted to catch up with Harry.

"Harry!" he called ahead to the group of Gryffindors stampeding up the staircase.

Harry turned around and saw his Galeic Magic professor waving to him over the heads of many loud students eager to go to bed. He bid his friends goodnight and pushed through the crowd and followed his teacher into an empty classroom.

"What happened to you tonight?" Cole asked urgently as soon as they were out of earshot.

Harry had been expecting this question from him and readily had an answer prepared. "I was spying on Malfoy," he admitted, "After what I saw in Knockturn Alley over the holidays, I'm sure that he's planning something. And I think I'm right."

"Well, you may be, but that still doesn't answer my question," Cole replied, clearly frustrated.

"I was under the Cloak, but he still knew I was there. He jumped me and put the Body Bond Curse on me. Then broke my nose and left me there. What was I supposed to do? I suppose you sent Tonks to look for me."

"Yeah."

"Why is she leaving Hogwarts? She told me she was part of the Auror team protecting Hogwarts."

"I have had her temporarily released from her Auror duties so that she may do work for the Order. You don't need to know about it."

"Well, I know that you've been planning something all holidays."

"Look, Harry," Cole said, placing his hand on the young teen's shoulders, "I want you to be careful around here this year. Yes, Malfoy might be planning something and no, it is not my main concern. As you said, I have spent the whole holidays working 

on something and it means that I'm not going to be around here a lot this year. You need to be careful."

"I will be," Harry replied forcefully, "I promise. What did I miss?"

"The Sorting was interesting. Did you know that Malfoy has a younger brother?"

"I saw a kid on the train in the SLytherin compartment. Short, blonde hair? He was with Zabini's brother, Connor."

"Yeah, his name is Dominic. They were both sorted into Ravenclaw."

"Are you serious?" Harry questioned, his mouth gaping wide open.

Cole merely nodded. "You should probably go back to your dorm. You don't want to be caught out of the Gryffindor Tower after hours on your first night, do you?"

Harry bid his teacher goodnight and walked up to his dorm contemplating the events of the evening and what his friend and teacher was involved in now.

**oOo**

"Tonks?" Cole called out walking towards Hogsmeade.

"Cole, is that you?" she answered, coming towards him. They were standing at the entrance to the Hogwarts grounds.

"Yeah, wanna get something to drink at The Hogs Head?"

"I'm off in five, so I'll ask Dawlish if I can take my break early." And she walked away to speak with another Auror.

"Okay, let's go," Tonks said walking back to Cole a minute later.

They walked in silence towards the pub and made their way inside. Cole ordered a Butterbeer for Tonks and a glass Firewhisky for himself. They sat at an empty booth in the back of the pub, anxious not to be overheard.

"So I'm gonna guess that it was you that had me temporarily released from Hogwarts guard duty?" Tonks said as Cole took a sip of his drink.

"Of course," he replied as he swallowed, "Unless you plan on being in two places at once?"

Tonks laughed, Cole noting that it was the first time she had laughed in a long time. He smiled widely.

"What?" she asked, seeing his smile.

"Nothing," he replied quickly as she stared him down, "It's just that I haven't heard that laugh in a long time. It's nice."

"Yeah well, I guess," she answered awkwardly.

"Look," Cole said, changing his tone to soft and caring, "Did you take this case because of what happened with Remus?"

Tonks looked down, afraid to answer.

"I get it, Tonks, I really do," Cole continued, "And I'm worried about you. I don't want you falling off the rail, especially not in the middle of this investigation. Any mistake could be fatal for you."

"I know that, Cole," she replied, rather angrily, "Don't you think that I don't know that?"

He shrugged, but said nothing.

"This is who I am," Tonks continued, "This is why I became an Auror. I'm not going to ignore my job because Remus can't face up to his feelings. And I won't make a mistake."

"Okay," Cole replied calmly, "I'm just worried is all. So much rests on the success of this mission."

"I know," she replied, putting her hand on his, "And I won't let you down."

They finished their drinks and walked back towards the school.

"I'll see you on Monday at the Halliwells, then?" Tonks asked as they arrived at the school's entrance.

Cole nodded and kissed her softly on the cheek. "See you." And he walked back up to the school, leaving Tonks far behind him, touching the spot where his lips touched her skin.

--

**A/N: Oh, I know some people are not going to like that, but I had to make this interesting. Enjoy.**


	10. Sorting Things Out

A/N: Hey everyone. Thanks for the reviews. It's been a good week so far so I've been able to update more often. Hopefully I'll be able to again this week.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Harry Potter or Charmed and I am not making a profit from this story.

**Chapter Ten: Sorting Things Out**

Cole walked up the stairs and opened the door to his headmaster's office.

"You know we haven't spoken in so long," Cole said jokingly as he walked towards Dumbledore, who was sitting at his desk, and sat down, "So you finally gonna tell me how your hand got that way?"

"Tea?" Dumbledore offered, pouring himself a cup.

"No thanks," Cole replied. He had never really enjoyed the earthy taste of tea and often steered away from it and towards coffee. "So?"

"I am going to assume that you know what I'm talking about when I say the word 'Horcrux,'" Dumbledore said, taking a sip from his tea.

"Of course," Cole replied, not making the connection, "I've been a demon for well over a century."

There was a silence while Cole pondered on why his mentor had brought it up. "Wait a sec," he finally said, coming to a realisation, "You think that Voldemort is using Horcruxes?"

"Have you not heard the rumours?" Dumbledore asked in a quiet voice, "I have proof." And he waved his damaged hand around.

"You tried to destroy one," Cole asked uncertainly.

"And was successful, but I believe that there are still many more out there."

"Well, of course, he wouldn't just make one. How many do you think?"

"I'm not sure, but I have my suspicions."

"Okay. Well, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, sir. I spoke to Harry earlier and he is under the impression that Draco Malfoy is working for the Death Eaters. Voldemort has his very own spy within these walls."

"You let me deal with what goes on within these walls, Cole. How fairs your investigation into the plot to assassinate the Prime Minister?"

"Tonks will be going undercover soon. Don't worry, I will not let them succeed."

"Oh, I have faith in you, Cole. But I guess you will not be able to spend too much time at Hogwarts?"

"Probably not, sir, which was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I'm going to ask Chris to take over my classes when I cannot attend them, but I would like your input before I ask him."

"That is fine. I trust that you believe that Chris' knowledge of the Galeic world is sufficient for him to teach."

"Yes, sir. He is very knowledgeable. And I think that he can use the Library here in his search for who is after Wyatt."

"Well then, I agree with you. I would like to meet with him before he teaches your class. Will you be here this week?"

"As much as I can," Cole replied, rising to his feet, "I'm going to pick up Dalton and Julian in two days time and Tonks is staying with the Halliwells for two weeks to perfect her American accent."

Dumbledore followed him to the door and opened it wide for him. "Goodnight, Cole."

"Goodnight, Professor," Cole replied as he walked out the door.

**oOo**

_The following Monday..._

"Don't you have classes today?" Phoebe asked as she kissed her boyfriend lightly.

"Not until this afternoon," Cole replied walking into the Manor as his sons ran to him, "Is Tonks here?"

The boys shrieked loudly as their father scooped them in his arms.

"Yes," Phoebe replied, "_Sophie_ is here."

"Right," Cole said winking, "Hey Chris?"

The young whitelighter walked into the hallway and bid good morning to Cole.

"I need to talk to you for a sec," Cole then said to him, putting down his sons and walking with the boy into the kitchen, leaving Phoebe alone, still holding the door.

"I have a favour to ask," Cole started off saying as they sat down around the bench, "I will be away from school a lot this year and I need someone to cover my classes. And who knows, perhaps you will find the answers you seek at Hogwarts."

"You sound like Dumbledore," Chris laughed, "Why not Paige? She's covered for you before."

"She's busy with Magic School."

'Alright, then," Chris said finally, "I was getting bored around here anyway and I could use the Library at Hogwarts."

"Thank you," Cole replied placing his hand on the whitelighter's back, "See I knew I could count on you. Hopefully, you won't have to cover too much, but if I go under as well, which I might, then you may as well end up fulltime."

"Okay, looking forward to going undercover?"

"Oh yeah, it's exciting," Cole answered, laughing, "You know completely nuts, but exciting."

Just then, Phoebe and Tonks-Sophie walked into the kitchen.

"Are you hungry, honey?" Phoebe asked putting her arms around Cole's waist and hugging him tightly.

"Well, that depends," he replied, turning around to face her. He leaned in and kissed her passionately, as though it was something they had not done in a while.

Tonks found herself unknowingly turning away, blushing slightly. Chris, on the other hand, was watching the young Metamorphmagus closely.

"So, I can wake up Piper and make her cook bacon and eggs," Phoebe said, pulling back slightly, "Your favourite."

Cole smiled as she kissed him and then walked upstairs.

"Great," Chris said, breaking the awkward silence after Phoebe left, "Coz I'm starving."

"So, Sophie," Cole said, taking her by surprise, "You ready for this?"

"Honey, I was born ready," Tonks quoted, choosing to play it cool with Cole, shutting out what was really on her mind.

Cole laughed as Piper walked into the room, slightly grumpily. "You know I was still sleeping," she said grouchily.

"Yeah, but we're hungry, Mom," Chris whined.

"And you couldn't make something?" she snapped back.

"But it wouldn't be as good," Cole answered, obviously coddling her.

"Oh, you take your smooth talk somewhere else," Piper retorted.

The kitchen laughed, causing Paige to wake and trample down the stairs.

"Wos' goin' on?" she asked sleepily.

"Breakfast, honey, you want some?" Phoebe asked brightly in front of her younger sister's face.

"My God, don't people sleep anymore?" Paige asked angrily as she woke up more fully. Nobody answered her, but dashed to help Piper cook breakfast.

Breakfast was a noisy affair. It reminded Cole of what their life was like over the holidays and it saddened him to know it would not happen again. At least not until their undercover investigation was over. If it ever would be.

**oOo**

"Hey," Chris said brightly as he walked up to Tonks. She was sitting on the stairs outside the Manor by herself, staring at the sky.

"Oh, hey," she replied, slightly taken by surprise.

"How are you doing?"

"Well, I think my accent is getting better. I spent some of my childhood here, so I know and understand most of the American culture."

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Chris asked uncertainly, "Personal?"

Tonks hesitated for a second, knowing where she was going with it, but she had to answer him to save herself from the suspicion. "Shoot."

"Why are you doing this?"

She was surprised by his question, but preferred it to what she thought he would ask. "Mystery, intrigue, looking for someone who's trying to assassinate the Prime Minister, you know, espionage just happens to be my field of expertise. It would be a waste of my Auror training if I didn't accept Cole's offer."

"Right, so it had nothing to do with what happened between you and Remus Lupin?"

She looked up at him and then turned away quickly. "It has nothing to do with that," she replied softly.

"Okay, so answer me this, then. What happened in the kitchen? What's going on between you and Cole?"

That was the question she was expecting, but she had no intention of responding to it. She rose to her feet and quickly jumped down the stairs and walked away from the house. Chris ran to follow her down the sidewalk.

"Hey, Sophie," he yelled, knowing that it was better for him to use her alias' name in the United States, "Wait up." He caught up to her fast-paced walk eventually.

"Look, you don't have to answer me," he said panting as he caught up to her, "But I just don't get it. I mean, there is nothing going on between you and Cole."

"No!," she shouted as she turned to him. She took a breath and calmed down, then turned around and walked away from him, knowing he would follow. "There isn't. It's just that... he was there. You know, he was just there when I wanted somewhere to talk to. We have been working together almost everyday and in the future, we're going to be working together a lot more."

"I can understand that. You put your lives in each other's hands all the time," Chris said shrugging, "There'll be the long nights, tough days. Maybe it's inevitable."

"No, it's not inevitable," Tonks replied and turned away from him.

--

**A/N: Okay, I know, yes that was from one of the final scenes of 'Judgment Day' the Season 5 finale of NCIS. But I agree with Ziva- "Nothing is inevitable."**


	11. Stepping Up

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and please keep them coming. It's been a good week so I've been able to update more often. Yay. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Charmed or Harry Potter and I'm not making a profit from this story. The eco-terrorist group in this story is fictional and bears no ties to the actual Earth Liberation Front.

**Chapter Eleven: Stepping Up**

Cole was looking forward to his first-year class on the Wednesday morning. He was anxious to see how different Dominic Malfoy was from his brother. But fate had different plans for him.

It was the Tuesday night and Cole was seated in his office chatting animatedly with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville about their first two days of school and how their classes were going. They were in deep discussion over yesterday's Galeic Magic lesson when, all of a sudden, Lupin's head appeared in the fire, just as Sirius' had done numerous times the year before.

"Cole?!" he yelled out before Cole came into his view, followed by the students, "Oh good. Something has happened and we need to accelerate our plans."

He was trying to be discreet in front of the Hogwarts students, but Cole knew that they needed to speak openly.

"I will be right there," Cole replied and turned to the students, "We'll have to cut our conversation short then, guys. I'll catch you later."

They bid their teacher goodbye and walked back to the Gryffindor common room, excitedly chatting about what Cole was up to this time. Cole turned back to the fire to see Remus' head gone.

"Dalton," he called out as his elf came running.

"Yes, sir?" he said humbly.

"Hey, I need you to go with Julian back to the Manor, at least for a little while," he said softly placing his hand on the elf's shoulder, "I don't know when I'll be coming back and you both will be better off there for now."

"Of course, sir," Dalton answered dutifully.

"Oh, wait up," Cole yelled out as Dalton turned to walked towards Julian's closed door, "I bought you both some clothes. The tailor just got back to me with your clothes."

"Thank you, sir," Dalton replied brightly as he took the brown packages from Cole's arms.

"No thanks necessary. I owe you for helping Piper cook for all of us over the holidays. Phoebe had offered to help otherwise." Cole shuddered at thought of his girlfriend's cooking.

Dalton gave a toothy smile and put the packages into an open suitcase near the entrance hallway.

"I have to go now," Cole said picking up his ready bag, "I should come by the Manor soon, so I'll see you there."

Dalton nodded and Cole walked out the door and towards Hogsmeade so he could shimmer to the Burrow where he knew his friend would be.

**oOo**

"What is it?" Cole asked as he banged on the front door.

"Cole, is that you?" he heard Remus's voice say.

"Duh," Cole whispered loudly back, "Who else would know that the last time you spoke to Tonks you told her that she should be more concerned with having her heart ripped out by these eco-terrorists than by you?"

Lupin opened the door slowly. "Not nice, Cole."

"Oh, I agree, Remus," Cole replied as he stalked into the dark house, "What the hell is the matter with you? Why would you say something so... so... unRemus-like?"

"I was trying to get her to focus on the case," Lupin answered earnestly, "One mistake, just one, could be fatal for her."

"Right, well that shows how little you know about women then, doesn't it?"

Lupin scoffed, wondering why Cole was debating with him about this when they had work to do. "This is coming from the man who mummified his ex-wife in an effort to win her back."

Cole took a step closer to Lupin, his knuckles white and balled into a fist. "Why are you trying to piss me off?!"

"Can we please just get back to work?" called out a deep voice from behind them. Kingsley Shacklebolt had walked into view and stepped between the two men.

"Sure," Cole said, looking away and walking over to the table to sit down, "What has happened?"

"Preliminary Interpol results have reported two hundred milligrams of Y. Pestis missing from a research lab in the East Scandinavia," Kingsley announced, passing manila folders to Cole and Lupin.

"And how did they make the link to the ELF?" Cole asked as he flicked through the file.

"They were involved in a protest outside the lab," Lupin answered, reading off the file, "Apparently the lab was dumping toxic waste into the river that runs through several local ecosystems."

"Would they really break in and steal a biological weapon when the rest of their group was just outside? Who wouldn't make that link?"

"Unless they were not concerned about us finding out afterwards?" Kingsley suggested, "Perhaps all that they were concerned with was getting access to the virus and they were using the rest of the group as a distraction?"

"The lab was on lockdown," Cole read aloud.

"Only when the protest got violent, not beforehand," Kingsley explained.

"They wouldn't have had enough time to break in, break through all of that security, safely retrieve the biological agent and get back out," Lupin stated, looking incredulously at Kingsley.

"Not if they had someone on the inside," Kingsley answered, "Interpol is looking into it and it's probable that that's how they got in and out so quickly without alerting security until it was too late."

"Okay, not really our problem," Cole said tiredly.

The other two men looked at him strangely.

"Well, it isn't," he defended, "Our problem is what they are going to do with two hundred milligrams of Y. Pestis now."

"Cole's right," affirmed a voice from the other room.

"Bad Sushi," Arlington replied as he walked into view, answering the men's questions as to where he had been for the past ten minutes, "You should accelerate your plans. Is your agent ready to go under?"

"Good to see you again, too, Cody," Cole replied shaking the man's hand, "I believe so, but I still need to meet with our contact inside ELF."

"Your NSA contact?" Arlington asked.

"Yeah," Cole replied, "I'll give Tariq a call and set up a meet. We should be good to go within two days if we work quickly."

"Good," Arlington answered, taking a seat, "The sooner the better. My control officer is getting very weary of these eco-terrorists now."

"Well, I'm gonna go back to San Francisco now. We'll talk tomorrow." And with that Cole shimmered out with his bag.

**oOo**

"Cole, is that you?" Chris called out, walking into the hallway form the kitchen.

"How did you know?" Cole asked, smiling.

"There's a whirling noise whenever you shimmer. I think it's the change-over of matter." Chris shrugged and followed the older man into the living room.

"You ready to teach?"

"Um, yeah, sure," Chris answered uncertainly.

"Great, you start tomorrow."

Chris gaped his mouth wide open.

"It's fine," Cole said in a calm voice, "First-years in the morning at nine o'clock and third-years in the afternoon at one. Dumbledore wants to see you before you start, though, so I suggest you pack and leave tonight. You can stay in my quarters and I'll let you know when I'm coming back. I've already organised every class' curriculum on my desk and I don't think you'll have any trouble with it."

"Ok, great," Chris replied weakly as he turned to walk upstairs to the attic, where most of his possessions were.

"Cole!" Phoebe yelled out as she saw her boyfriend. He smiled as he put his arms around her and kissed her softly.

Tonks, hearing Phoebe's shriek, got up from reading the New York Times and walked into the living room. Seeing the kiss they shared, she ardently prayed that it would not create another tense moment.

"Tonks," Cole said brightly, breaking his kiss with Phoebe and letting her go, "We need to talk about this investigation."

"Okay," Tonks replied suspiciously, "Has something happened?"

"Yes," Cole said, walking into the kitchen and towards the fridge, "We need to put you under a lot sooner than we expected. I'm going set up a meet with your NSA contact in Paris."

"Great, I can't wait to get into this," Tonks replied with a flawless American accent.

"Well, I've just called my friend and he wants to me with you tonight, so get dressed. We're going to P3."

"As Sophie?"

"No, as Tonks," Cole replied pouring himself a glass of Coke as Tonks took off upstairs.

"Now that I have you alone again," Phoebe said sultrily, putting her arms around Cole's waist.

He pulled away from her. "Sorry, Pheebs, I've got work to do. Is Julian here with Dalton?"

"Yes," Phoebe answered, slightly bitterly, "Julian's sleeping upstairs with Jaxon and I'm not sure what Dalton is doing right now. He enjoys American TV, he's probably watching it in the guest room."

"Okay, I'm going to change and then I'll be off with Tonks to P3," Cole then said. He kissed Phoebe lightly on her lips and walked upstairs, leaving her fuming in the kitchen.

**oOo**

Tonks felt slightly out of place at the Bay Area nightclub and Cole found himself constantly reminding her to relax. They met with NSA Supervisory Special Agent Tariq Shaheen at ten thirty around the coffee table that one of Piper's mangers, Tia, had secured for them.

"Tariq," Cole said standing and shaking the man's hand, "Good to see you again. This is Nymphadora Tonks."

Tonks found herself shaking hands with an attractive man of Middle Eastern descent, dark brown eyes and a very bright smile.

"Nice to meet you, Nymphadora," he claimed brightly.

She chuckled. "Please, Agent Shaheen, it's just Tonks."

"Well, then Tonks, please call me Tariq," he answered, taking a seat next to her.

Tonks' mind was going at a million miles an hour. So many emotions at one time. She was excited to be going on this mission with a handsome NSA agent to boot.

"So how have wife and daughter been?" Cole asked Shaheen, taking a seat on the other lounge.

'_Okay, there goes that idea,'_ Tonks thought to herself.

"Samira keeps getting bigger and bigger every time I see her," Shaheen answered Cole, laughing, "I feel like we're buying new clothes every week. And Tahirah has been spending her every waking hour with her. I swear if I hadn't cut the umbilical cord they would be inseparable. Literally."

Cole laughed loudly. "I feel that way sometimes with Phoebe and Jaxon, our oldest son. But since we adopted Julian it hasn't been as bad."

"Anyway, as I said on the phone, we need to accelerate our plans," Cole continued, jumping to the subject of work, "Did you get the file I faxed over to you?"

"Yes and I agree with you," Shaeen replied and then turned to Tonks, "Madeleine Keating, my agent currently stationed in Paris, will meet with you tomorrow. I'll give you the details. She doesn't know anything this case or about _your_ world. At all. I've told her that you are an English agent, so she will assume British Secret Service. I suggest that you let her."

Tonks nodded, taking in every word that was being spoken to her and committing it to memory, as she had been trained to do as an Auror. Shaheen handed her a sheet of paper with the location of the meeting with Keating the following day.

"I will be there," she said, folding it and putting it into her handbag.

Shaheen stood up an addressed them both. "I must be going, then. Sorry that I can't stick around but I have reports to finish. We'll talk later, Cole. Miss Tonks."

And he walked away from the table.

"Here we go," said Cole as he helped Tonks to her feet and together they made their way back to Piper's car and drove back to the Manor.


	12. Professor Perry

A/N: Hey guys. Short chapter here. I have assessments coming out of every orifice of my body, so it's been hard to write.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Harry Potter or Charmed and I'm not making a profit from this story.

**Chapter Twelve: Professor Perry**

Chris waited very nervously, sitting at Cole's desk at the front of his classroom, as nine o'clock approached. He shuffled his class outline a few times as the students filed into the room at a few minutes to the hour. They noisily took their seats and looked up at Chris, expecting to see Cole.

"Um, sir," a blonde student piped up, "Where is Professor Turner?"

"He was called out on urgent business," Chris answered quickly, "I'm Professor Perry and I will be taking this class for an undefined period of time."

The boy sat down and said nothing more.

"I'll call the roll, then," Chris said uncertainly, "Keira Addison."

A short, brunette girl raised her hand and Chris continued down the list. "Thomas Baxter. Andre Carlita. Hayden Cobbett. Alannah Condor. Melissa Eros..." Chris continued down the list until he recognised the surname of one boy. "Dominic Malfoy?"

The blonde boy that had asked him about Cole earlier raised his hand. Chris nodded and continued on his list right down to Connor Zabini.

Chris began his class much as Cole had the year before and asked if anyone knew of the Galeic world. Dominic raised his hand and launched into an explanation of the division of magic just as Hermione had done for Cole. Chris had to admit that he was very impressed by the boy's aptitude for knowledge.

They went on to talk about the nature of witches, demons, warlocks, whitelighters and many other magical creatures of the Galeic world. Throughout his entire lecture, Dominic and his dark-skinned friend, Connor, who sat next to him, ferociously scribbled down everything their teacher had said. Chris finished up the class by giving them a twelve-inch essay on the origin of magic to be handed in on Friday.

The class moved out slowly, chatting about their next class and wondering what they would get to eat for lunch. Dominic, however, remained behind, telling Connor and his other Ravenclaw friends that he would catch up with them later.

"Can I ask you something, sir?" Dominic asked politely, walking up to Chris.

"Sure," Chris responded brightly, "What's on your mind, Dominic?"

"It's just... you hesitated when you called my name," the young student replied earnestly, "Now I know that a lot of teachers have been doing it, but I just feel like you... I don't know... wouldn't."

"I get it, Dominic. I actually really do. I was sorted into Ravenclaw even though my older brother was in Slytherin."

"You went to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, but as I mentioned before, I'm from the future, so in this time I haven't attended Hogwarts yet. I just didn't know that the Malfoys had any more children."

"Three boys. I'm the middle child."

"You have a younger brother?"

"Darcy. He's eight and He Who Must Not Be Named's favourite. His prodigy. He always hated me. I never represented his ideal of what a future Death Eater should be."

Chris looked sympathetically at the young boy. Dominic looked up, sensing the conversation was over and walked towards the door.

"If you ever want to talk, Dominic," Chris said, following the student, "My door's always open."

"Thank you, sir," Dominic replied gratefully and took off down the hallway and out of sight.

Chris sighed contently, knowing that, just in those ten minutes, he fulfilled the role that Cole had wanted him to.

**oOo**

Tonks was basking in the sun's depleting warmth in a small cafe in Paris. She was dressed head to toe as Sophie Moreau. Cole had told her to arrive early to any meetings since it was the best way to avoid an ambush. She decided that she wanted to take the investigation very seriously. Not only her life, but the lives of so many people, including the Muggle Prime Minister's, depended on her success.

Finally, her American contact, Madeleine Keating, an agent working in Agent Shaheen's team, arrived at their designated meeting place. She took a seat across from a beautiful young French-American woman with light skin, dark curly hair and vivid blue eyes.

"Sophie?" the young woman asked as politely as she approached the table.

"Madeleine?" Tonks replied, choosing to remain on a fist name basis with her contact.

Madeleine smiled and took up a seat across from Tonks. "Please, call me Maddie."

"So, when does my cover actually start?" Tonks asked politely.

"Already did," Maddie replied shortly, "Wait a sec."

Maddie craned her head over Tonks' and looked in the direction of the street. "Oh they're good."

"I'm sorry?" Tonks asked, slightly perturbed.

"Klefta knew that I was meeting with you today. I am going to bring you as soon as I can. We haven't got time to waste. He had me followed. I lost them for a bit outside the city, but it seems they have picked up my trail." A young waitress came around and took their order for coffee.

"Why are they following you? And who is Klefta?"

"How much have you been told?"

"Not nearly enough it seems," Tonks replied, rather bitterly.

"Marko Klefta is the man in charge of this sect. Very connected and very dangerous. They're following me for any number of a dozen reasons. They might think that I'm whistleblower or that I'm consulting with other eco-terrorist groups, whatever. They're extremely paranoid about this sort of thing."

"Well, that makes our job harder. Are you sure they're not listening to us?"

Maddie pulled a remote-like device out of her bag and showed Tonks under the table. "I'm jamming them, so even if they do have listening devices. They can't hear us."

"Where can I get one of them?" Tonks asked enthusiastically as the young waitress brought their coffee.

Maddie laughed. "Your cover runs deep. You've been arrested on four occasions. Vandalism, malicious damage of property, you assisted the Environmental Defence Fund in setting fire to a port in the Bay Area and served only 30 days in prison."

"Yes," Tonks replied simply. She had read her file thoroughly a few times.

"I have already passed this information to Klefta and he has agreed to allow you into our group on a trial basis. You must not fail. Too much depends on it."

"I know. When do I meet with you again?"

"Tomorrow. I have the address to your new apartment and I will pick you up at two o'clock," Maddie stood up and collected the check for their coffee, "I will see you then."

And with that she stood up and walked away, leaving Tonks alone at the table, contemplating her new life.


	13. Love and Lunch

A/N: Hey guys. If you're reading this, then please review. Even if it's just "Great chapter" or "terrible chapter." I'd really love to know what you think. BTW did anyone from Australia watch Scorched last night? My god, freaky much. If that really did happen in 4 years time, my house would have been up in flames within the first 24 hours. It's like Day of Destruction. And to all those in the US, I hope that everythign turns out okay in New Orleans. I'm wishing you all well.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Harry Potter or Charmed and I'm not making a profit from this story.

**Chapter Thirteen: Love and Lunch**

Tonks' first week as Sophie Moreau passed fairly quickly and uneventfully. She met with Marko Klefta on her second day, but found herself dismissed as an activist without enough soul to carry out a high-level operation. She was informed that she would shafted into a few low-level protests in Italy, Spain and Germany, and if she performed well, i.e. stirred up some trouble with the local authorities, she would be allowed into Klefta's inner circle.

"Nothing is more important than you getting into that circle right now, Tonks," Cole was telling her one evening, about a week and a half after her cover started.

"I know that, Cole," she replied, disliking that he was reminding her of this for the fifth time in ten minutes.

"And you need to make this place homier," Cole continued, "It looks like a crash pad. They might suspect you of being cop if they see you live in lifeless apartment."

"I just moved here," Tonks replied incredulously.

"Well, maybe you could start by unpacking some things," he answered, waving his hand in the direction of several duck-taped boxes.

Suddenly, they heard a crash coming from Tonks' bedroom.

"Stay here," Cole whispered as he walked up to her bedroom, his arm ready to light up an energy ball.

"Remus!" Tonks heard Cole yell. A moment later the two men appeared back in the kitchen.

"Are you planning to unpack anything?" Remus asked in amazement, "Or are you gonna kill yourself falling over a mound of boxes on your way to the toilet late one night?"

"Are you offering to help me unpack, Remus?" Tonks asked, somewhat seductively. He said nothing.

"I think I'll leave you to it," Cole said in a rush to leave, "I'm teaching my classes this week and I have one starting in twenty minutes."

And without another word, he was gone.

"Do you want a hand unpacking?" Remus asked politely.

"Sure, why not? I have to do it sometime."

They moved all of her newly purchased clothing into her wardrobe, her miscellaneous belongings into a storage cupboard and hung up some paintings and photos taken as part of her cover up on her wall.

For some reason, Lupin had been saddled with the job of unpacking some of Tonks' clothes and putting them in her wardrobe. Deciding to throw most of it on her bed so that she may sort it out, he moved quickly from box to box, only stopping when he got to a box marked 'Lingerie.'

'_Tonks has lingerie,'_ he thought to himself as he dared to open the box, _'Oh my god.'_

He pulled out a black, lacy g-string, feeling his heart do a back flip.

"Are you planning to wear those?" came Tonks voice from the doorway to her bedroom.

"Just unpacking," Lupin replied hastily as he quickly put them back in the box, feeling his face redden.

Tonks laughed at his embarrassment, which he found relaxed him more so.

"Right, well I'm nearly finished downstairs," Tonks told him, moving on, "Would you like to go out for lunch?"

"Sure," Lupin answered with a smile.

He finished unpacking Tonks' coats and hanging them up and walked downstairs.

"I know this quaint little cafe about a five minute walk from here," Tonks told him as she saw him appear down the stairs."

"Should we be going out?" Lupin asked cautiously, "I mean, won't they be following your movements. Couldn't I blow your cover?"

"Not likely," Tonks answered simply, but the look on Lupin's face gave her cause to explain, "Yes, they may be following me. And no you won't blow my cover because, A, they can't run facial recognition software on someone who isn't in the Muggle system, B, I'm going to look suspicious if I eat by myself everyday for the next few weeks and C, well I don't really have a C."

"Well alright then," Lupin then said after Tonks' long ramble, "Let's go."

She grabbed her coat that was hanging behind the door and walked out of her apartment as Lupin held the door open. He followed her out of the building and down the busy and crowded street. They did not say much until they got to the cafe.

"Um, table for two," Lupin asked the waitress at the front of the cafe.

She nodded, grasping that the two must be tourists and chose to answer them in English.

"Eef you would like follow me," the young lady proposed in her thick French accent. She led them to table and handed menus to them. After she had left, Tonks turned to Lupin.

"Remus, next time let me do the talking," Tonks scolded.

"Why? These menus are in English, anyway," Lupin replied.

"Because she thinks we are tourists," Tonks snapped back, "Never mind. Let's just order." She sat there, fuming, until the food arrived and Lupin tried another hand at conversation.

"So, Sophie," he began, "How do you like your new apartment?"

"Oh, it is has a great view of all the romantic spots in the city," Tonks replied. He knew their conversation was forced, but he couldn't help but feel that her last comment was some attempt at a concealed message.

They smiled and chatted as they ate their lunch and then headed back to her apartment. Once inside, they knew they could speak freely, since Tonks was jamming any bugs they had placed into her apartment.

"So what are you going to do now?" Tonk asked as she hung her coat behind the door.

"Going undercover," Lupin answered simply. Seeing the confused look on Tonks' face, he chose to explain further. "Cole wants me under with my own people. Werewolves."

"Not your people," Tonks told him forcefully, "You don't belong with them."

"But I still have to go," Lupin replied softly, placing his hand on her chin. He looked into her eyes as she leaned into him.

Tonks felt as though all of her fears about her mission, his mission, had floated off in his eyes. She moved towards him, hoping to seal her lust and desires for him.

Lupin felt his worries slip away as he looked deep into Tonks' eyes. He felt her lean closer to him and for a moment, he wanted to reciprocate. But his mind snapped back into reality before that happened. He suddenly pulled away from her and looked down.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"No," Tonks replied, "I'm sorry. I should've known."

He turned away from her and walked towards the door. She grabbed his arm as he began to leave.

"Wait, Remus. You know that you're going undercover and I'm already under. We could be killed in these operations."

"I know," he told her, looking down, "So we definitely do not need to be distracted. One mistake could be fatal."

"Is that it?" Tonks called out as he continued to walk out the door. He stopped but did not turn around. She waited, waited for him to come back. He did not. Instead, he continued to walk out the door.

**oOo**

"Malfoy is up to something," Harry told his comrades late one night in the Gryffindor common room.

"Yeah, we got that part, mate," Ron answered, "But what? And how do we find out?"

"I think we should let Professors Dumbledore and Turner deal with it," Hermione told them, without looking up from her essay.

"We could ask Malfoy's brother?" Harry suggested.

"Or scare him into telling us?" Ron put in, brandishing his broomstick as a weapon.

"He's a Ravenclaw," Harry added, "He's not like Malfoy. Maybe he will tell us."

"He won't," Hermione said, standing up, "He is a Malfoy, which means he's probably in direct contact with You Know Who and has been for a year and a half. He is probably too terrified to say anything."

"Excuse me," piped up a small voice.

The trio turned around to see the blonde head of Dominic Malfoy. "I overheard a Gryffindor first-year telling another one the password."

He then turned to Hermione and Ron. "You two are Prefects. You should talk to them about security. There are some Slytherins who would love to get in here. Trust me, I know."

"Why are you here, Malfoy?" Harry asked with some distaste.

"Don't get angry at me," Dominic replied, standing his ground even though he was afraid of the sixth-year students, "And it's Dominic, not Malfoy, please. I'm here to help you. You're right, my brother is planning something."

"What, Dominic?" Hermione asked softly.

"I do not know," he answered, sitting down on the armchair opposite them, "I would never be told anything. They all knew I was not going to be a Death Eater. I'm shocked that I have survived this long."

"Do you know anything?" Ron asked spitefully.

"Not much, but Darcy does."

"Darcy?" Harry asked.

"My younger brother," Dominic told them, "He is his favourite. He Who Must Not Be Named."

"You've seen You Know Who?" Ron asked fearfully.

"Yes," Dominic replied simply, "Many times over the holidays. I can't divulge much, though."

"Why not?" Ron asked angrily.

"They are using the Fidelius Charm," he answered, "And I am not the Secret Keeper."

"Okay," Harry said, rising to his feet, "Answer me this, Dominic. Why do you want to help us?"

"Because I'm not like them," Dominic replied truthfully, looking directly into Harry's eyes, tears forming in his own, "I have seen the terrible things that He Who Must Not Be Named has done. I saw him kill Professor Burbage. He tortured her and then fed her to his snake. In an attempt to make me tougher, he held my head and made me watch every horrifying moment of it."

Harry looked at the boy with the deepest of sympathies, knowing full well what the boy was going through. He walked in front the younger boy, wiped the tears from his cheek and looked deep into his eyes.

"I believe you."

--

**A/N: I'm serious. Please review.**


	14. Deep Cover

**Hey everyone. Sorry I took so long to update, but I've had 2 mid-session exams since the last update and I've had to clean my house for my brother's confirmation. But here is the 14th chapter. I hope you all enjoy it and please review. By the way, if anyone is a fan of NCIS and Criminal Minds, I've written a cross-over called 'Cross-Jurisdictions.' I'd love you to check it out. Cheers guys.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Charmed or Harry Potter and I'm not making a profit from this story.**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Deep Cover**

"Are you sure about this?" Shaheen asked Cole, who was changing into a black suit with a blue shirt and tie.

"Of course I'm not sure," Cole replied, "But I don't want to put any more of my people at risk."

"So, you'll put yourself at risk?" Shaheen questioned rhetorically, handing Cole his tie.

"It will not be difficult," Cole answered as he fixed the buttons on his business shirt, "You said it yourself, all I have to do is sell the equipment that Klefta needs to weaponise the Y. Pestis."

"Earning his trust will not be easy, Cole," Shaheen announced as he sat on the edge of the bed in Cole's hotel room in New York City, "Did you read up on all the information you need to know about this sale? You can't sell anything effectively if you don't know what you're selling."

"Don't you think I know that, Tariq?" Cole answered angrily as he fixed his tie in the mirror, "You forget that I was a demon for more than a century. I know what I'm doing. Is everything set up?"

"And ready to go," Shaheen replied obediently, resigning back to the bed that he was sitting on, "So, Leon Tyler, are you ready for this?"

Cole smiled, picking up his suitcase, which contained all the information of the sale and the goods that he was selling, and walked towards the exit of his suite. "You staying here?"

"I'll wait here until you get back," Shaheen answered, walking his friend to the door, "TV got HBO?"

Cole laughed as he opened the door.

"Good luck," Shaheen called out to him.

**oOo**

A driver in a black Chrysler limousine picked him up outside the hotel and drove him to Times Square. Cole recognised Klefta from a photo that Tonks provided him. He asked the driver to stop in front of them man.

"Marko Klefta?" Cole asked, rolling down the window.

"Leon Tyler?" Klefta questioned back.

"Get in," Cole ordered. He knew that he could appear to be in any way submissive. He was the owner of a very successful nuclear science company that dabbled in both legal and illegal sales. Anyway which way you sliced it, Cole knew his alias was a dangerous man. The danger for him would be if he didn't convince Kefta of it.

"Drive, Hoff," Cole told his driver, pushing the button to move the screen up between the Hoff and his passengers.

"Would you like something to drink, Mr Klefta?" Cole asked as he opened the small refrigerator in the limo, "Champagne?"

"Why not?" Klefta answered, Cole noticing that his English carried a heavy Scandinavian accent.

Cole poured them two glasses. "And now down to business. How much are you willing to pay for my merchandise."

"How much do you charge?" Klefta asked as he took the flute from Cole.

"15 million American dollars would be my standard rate for equipment of this quality," Cole answered.

Klefta laughed. "I am not a simpleton, Mr Tyler. I know that you are over-charging here. Do you think that my organisation is that wealthy?"

"Don't think me to be so naive," Cole replied in a low voice, "I know that you can afford it. You make so much profit selling arms across the world. Don't think that you're the only person here to have done research."

Klefta remained silent, continuing to sip at his champagne.

"Nine million," Cole said finally, "I don't have to sell to you, you know. But you need to buy from me."

Klefta nodded slightly to indicate that he agreed with the terms of their bargain.

"Excellent," Cole announced, pouring them another glass of champagne, "You know what I want. One plain, black briefcase, non-sequential hundred dollar bills and no tricks. No tracking devices, explosive dyes, counterfeit bills. Rest assured that I will know. I want it on Friday. My assistant will contact you with the details of the drop."

"And my merchandise?" Klefta questioned angrily.

"Will be delivered to your compound in Budapest on Monday," Cole answered nonchalantly.

"How do I know that I will get it?"

"Are you naming me a thief?" Cole argued rather aggressively. This position he was in epitomised his personality to a very full extent. "I have a reputation to protect, Mr Klefta. You will get your goods on Monday, they will be untraceable and they will be of the highest quality. That is what you are paying for, after all."

The car suddenly stopped and Klefta realised that they were back at Times Square. Cole opened the door for him.

"We will be in contact, Mr Klefta," Cole said as soon the man was out of the limo and closed the door behind him.

His driver drove off without needing to be told. "All done, Cole?" he asked, rolling down the screen between them.

"Yep," Cole replied happily, "And it went very well. Thank you, Scott." The driver, Scott Hoffman, returned his eyes to the road.

"Back to the hotel?" he then asked.

"Absolutely," Cole answered, "I need to tell Tariq about this."

They continued driving without any further conversation.

**oOo**

Tonks found herself in an impossible situation. She was at a rally in St Petersburg, where a lab was using animals as testers for new pharmaceuticals. Standing in the front line of their group, she was immediately looked to when the police turned up. Klefta had told them about the importance of the protest. It could not be interrupted before they made a public statement. And the only way for Tonks to get into his circle soon was to make that statement for the group at this event.

"Are you ready, Sophie?" Franco Bertolli asked. He was the leader of the Italian sect of the group and was heading the protest.

"Sure," Tonks replied, very unsurely. She only had a few moments to formulate a plan. In her hand, she held a flare and a cigarette lighter. She knew what she had to do now- create havoc. The flare will easily disperse the crowd and the police will be overwhelmed. She could use it as a distraction while she snuck into the compound and released as many animals as possible, just as Klefta had ordered.

She lit the flare quickly and threw it high into the sky, magically ensuring that it didn't hit anyone when it landed. Just as she suspected, everybody ran from the scene. The law enforcement went into overdrive, hitting some protesters with their batons around the abdomen. The riot squad was deployed to try and regain some control and Tonks used this as the perfect opportunity to break in.

She jumped the fence easily, not being spotted by the armed guards in towers. They were too busy watching the riot. She ran around the outside of the building, finding an air vent that would probably lead into the labs.

She was still unsure of how she would release the animals without harming any of the people that worked in the lab. She jumped out of the vent in the middle of a room surrounded by cages. The room was empty of people, but full of trapped animals.

Tonks actually found herself sad to see them treated in such a way, noting that the cause she was representing in her cover was more appealing by the minute. She noticed there a surveillance camera in the right hand corner of the back of the room. She remained in its shadow as she approached it and pulled out the cord, immediately shutting down its live feed. Checking once again that nobody was around, she magically released the animals from their cages and let them loose in the compound.

There was an exit nearby so, as she led the animals into the main hallway, she locked all the doors along it from the outside, locking its occupants inside. She burst open the front door, allowing the animals that were still following free, and dashed back around the rear of the building, jumping the fence.

She landed gracefully on the other side to see Bertolli and a group of hard core ELF members. They were smiling encouragingly, very happy to see her.

"Excellent, Sophie," Bertolli said in accented English, "Klefta will be very happy about this. I will be sure to tell him. I know that he could use someone with your skills on another mission. A more important cause."

Tonks couldn't help but smile, too. Not because she was pleased about her actions today, but because she was finally in deep undercover. _'So it begins,'_ her inner voice told her excitedly.

**A/N: Please review. I absolutely love gettting them.**


	15. Decisions

**Hey everyone. I'm so sorry that I didn't get to update quicker, but I was so busy with study and cleaning. So here's this chapter. I hope you all enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Charmed or Harry Potter and I'm not making a profit from this story.**

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**Chapter Fifteen: Decisions**

Tonks unlocked the door to her Paris apartment and walked inside, turning on the lights.

"How did it go?" she heard a deep, male voice call from the dining room. Normally she would pull out her wand and use her kick-arse Auror training on whoever was intruding on her private property, but she recognised the voice.

"Very well," Tonks replied as she threw her overnight bag on the floor and went to her fridge.

"Do you care to elaborate?" Cole asked, leaning back in his chair, "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

"I'm in," Tonks answered as she tore the lid off a microwave meal and threw it into her microwave for a minute, "The protest went very well for me. I convinced the Italian section leader, Franco Bertolli, that I am more than ready to take up a position on Klefta's elite team. He called me at the airport."

"Bertolli?" Cole questioned.

"No, Klefta," Tonks replied simply as the microwave beeped. She opened the door, pulled out the steaming meal, grabbed a Coke out of the fridge and sat down across from Cole.

"Seriously?" Cole asked, but took her silence to mean yes, "This is excellent, 'cos he's ready to move. I went undercover as the businessman that is going to sell him the equipment to take out the Prime Minister. The dispersal devices that he needs to weaponise the Y. Pestis."

"Is MI6 taking care of it?" Tonks asked, he mouth full of food.

Cole gave her a quizzical look and then answered. "Yeah, and NSA. Tariq organised with the CIA for us to be supplied with the merchandise and MI6 agents are making the drop. I'm shocked that they have been able to work together so efficiently."

"When do they get the equipment?" Tonks asked after she had swallowed a rather large mouthful, "And where?"

"If he pays the nine million tomorrow and Tariq gives me the heads up that it's all clear, I will call Arlington and have his agents deliver the stuff to Klefta's warehouse in Budapest on Monday."

"When Klefta called me the other day," Tonks then said, "He told me that I would be flying to Hungary soon. He did not give me a date or city."

"His operations are set up in Budapest," Cole explained, "It is more than likely that that is where you are heading. This is going well for us."

"And now it's more dangerous," Tonks added excitedly, without a trace of fear in her voice.

Cole smiled, feeling like he had the old Tonks back. "Good to know that you're not scared."

"Are you?"

"I'm afraid of what might happen if we fail," Cole admitted.

"So am I," Tonks told him, "That's why we can't fail. And we won't." She reached out across the small dining table and grabbed his hand.

Cole gave her a weak smile, which she returned brightly.

"Anyway, I better go," Cole announced, pulling away from her, "I haven't seen my family in a couple of days."

"Oh, Phoebe's not gonna like that," Tonks mocked.

"To make matters worse," Cole continued, ignoring Tonks' jab, "She's gonna wonder what happened to me. I went to dinner with Tariq and never came back. That was three nights ago."

Tonks burst out laughing as Cole shimmered back to the Manor.

**oOo**

"Dada!" Jaxon yelled when he saw his father shimmer into the hallway. He ran to Cole, throwing his arms around his legs.

"Cole?!" Phoebe called out loudly as she came down the stairs, carrying Julian, "Look, Jules, Daddy's home." She walked up to her partner and gave him a sweet kiss softly on his lips.

This was not what Cole had expected his welcome home to be. He had hoped Phoebe would only yell for a few minutes, but so far, she hadn't raised her voice. In fact, she was playing the perfect wife and Cole couldn't help but wonder if it was only a show when the babies were in the room.

"How have you been, honey?" Phoebe set in an overly sweet voice, leaving Cole wondering if a spell had backfired again.

"Uh, Piper?" he called out into the kitchen.

"She's not here," Paige said as she came around the corner in a seemingly bad mood, "She's at Magic School."

"Oh, okay," Cole said as he dropped his voice down to whisper in Paige's ear, "What's wrong with Phoebe?"

"Nothing, Cole," Paige hissed back, "And don't think that she's happy. Oh, no, no, no. She's just pretending to be so cheery in front of Jaxon, Wyatt and Julian. She's furious with you."

"Thanks, Paige," Cole shot back sarcastically as the young witch walked out the front door.

Piper came back to the house that afternoon, cooking Cole, Phoebe and the boys a nice meal. Chris had been at Hogwarts full time for the past two weeks and Leo dropped in every now and again.

Cole knew that after dinner, after the boys had gone to bed, he would have to hear it from Phoebe. It was something that he was not looking forward to. He felt bad for her, he really did, but there was not a chance in hell that he would abandon his cause. Absolutely no way.

"Are you going to yell?" Cole asked, sitting on the edge of Phoebe's bed. The two were alone in her room.

"We need you here, Cole," Phoebe told him, skipping the anger and introductions, "We need Chris back from Hogwarts. We are running out of time to find out who is after Wyatt. Now, I know you can't just switch off your loyalties to Dumbledore, but what about us? Huh, Cole, what about us?"

"I'm sorry, Phoebe," Cole pleaded, "I really am. But you don't seem to get that if I fail, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of innocent people _will_ die."

"I can't live like this anymore, Cole," Phoebe tearfully admitted in a low voice, "I can't live with our boys wondering if you they will ever see you again. I can't live with the knowledge that every time I see you it might be the last time that I see you. I just can't do this."

"So, what now?" Cole asked softly, standing up and placing a palm on Phoebe's cheek. With one thumb, he wiped away her tears. She looked deeply into his eyes and then turned away from him.

"You need to choose," Phoebe clarified, "It is our family or the Order. Our world or theirs. You can't belong to both, Cole."

Cole walked towards the window in her room and rested his hands on the windowsill. "I cannot... will not... It's just hard, Phoebe."

"No, Cole," she answered, feeling the anger rise in her voice, "It's not hard. It's a no-brainer. I'm not saying that you have to leave the Order. I'm just asking you to delegate. Let the Hekabeans fight their own war. Think about your family."

Cole looked down at the ground hard, carefully choosing his words. He then walked towards the door.

"I am thinking about my family, Phoebe," Cole said as he turned back to face her, "My whole family, not just the people under this roof." And he turned and walked out the door.

"Don't forget to give your sons a kiss on your way out," Phoebe yelled back to him angrily, before collapsing on her bed in a mixture of exhaustion and anguish.

Cole stopped in the corridor, hearing Phoebe's tears, and was left wondering if he really was doing the right thing.

**oOo**

Sitting in a hot conference room in an old warehouse in Budapest was the last thing that Tonks wanted to be spending her Sunday morning doing, but Klefta had called her the night before, organising her flight out of France and to Hungary. She was the first to arrive in the room, but was soon joined by a group of five other members as well as Klefta. She was not shocked to see that Madeleine Keating had also been chosen as part of the team.

"The equipment arrives tomorrow," Klefta announced, speaking English in his thick Scandinavian accent, "We should be ready to go within the next month. For those who don't know who our target is, we are going to shock the Western world. That is all you need to be aware of."

"What are we going to do?" asked a tall, Hispanic man who was sitting in the corner.

"You, Diego, will be going with Madeleine and Sophie to London on Tuesday," Klefta answered and then looked expectantly at the man to his immediate right, "Alexei? Will you explain the operation to them."

The Russian nodded and beckoned the three chosen members out of the room. They followed him to another room on the other side of the warehouse. Once they were all inside, he locked the door. Tonks studied the man for a moment. He was most likely in his early to mid fifties, carrying a mild Russian accent and a battle scar on his neck. She remembered him from one of the files that Arlington had given her. His name was Alexei Matvey and he was ex-KGB. It was likely that he was not interested in the group's cause, only the amount of money that Klefta was paying him.

"Your role in this part of the mission is reconnaissance," Matvey told them speedily, "You have been chosen because you display skills that would make you very effective in achieving all the necessary information that we need to carry out this task. In two days, you will be in London, observing the British Prime Minister. We want to know everything about his routine- who his drivers are, what time he wakes up in the morning, what time he goes into the office, how he takes his tea, who he meets with on a daily basis and who he is planning to meet over the next month. Everything."

"How do you propose we do this?" Madeleine asked. Tonks chose to remain quiet, but carefully listened to Matvey.

"Be creative," Matvey answered with a growl, "I don't care how you do it, I only care that it gets done and nobody knows what you're up to. Now go."

The three nodded and left the room in silence. Madeleine shot Tonks a worried look, but Tonks made sure that the glance she returned was reassuring, even though she didn't feel very reassured on the inside.

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**A/N: Okay, I know that I'm making Phoebe seem like a real bitch in this, but really she's not... she's just being... well Phoebe. And I really need to get back to Hogwarts. I'm sure there's interesting stuff going on there. Anyway, please review.**


	16. All Routes Lead to London

**I know I haven't updated in so long, like two and a half weeks, but I had a major block on this story. My muse deserted me. Hopefully, she's back now and I can update a little more often. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter as this storyline draws to an exciting close. I feel like I'm writing a James Bond moive. Lol. Please review.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from either Charmed or Harry Potter and the fictional eco-terrorist group in this fic bears no ties to the actual ELF. I'm not making a profit from this story.**

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**Chapter Sixteen: All Routes Lead to London**

Tonks sat perched high up on a roof top with her night-vision scope carefully trained on the house of the Prime Minister. Another man had been put on their team, allowing the group to split into two teams of two agents each. Thankfully, she had been teamed up with Madeleine, which meant that they could run their respective organisation's investigations as well as their work for their eco-terrorist boss.

"See anything interesting," Maddie asked as she walked up beside her colleague with coffee, "I know you may not drink it, but it's a better kick than tea."

"Mm, thanks, Maddie," Tonks answered, taking her foam coffee cup, "And to answer your question, not much. I cannot see any way for Klefta to get in at the moment. But he expects us to find a way."

"Then that's what we should do," Maddie added.

"What?" Tonks questioned confusedly, "Find a way so that he can kill the Prime Minister."

"We need to keep our cover, Sophie. Is there anyone in your organisation that can make sure we have a way in?"

"I'll need to contact MI5," Tonks responded, remembering that Maddie thought she worked for MI6, "We shouldn't use the Prime Minister as bait. Any number of things could go wrong and if he is killed..." Tonks' voice trailed off, but Maddie did not need her to finish her sentence.

"We can't just tell Klefta that we have nothing," Maddie pointed out, "We need to make sure that we are in the middle of this mission and the only way that is going to happen is if we convince Klefta that we are the most effective people he has."

"There's such a fine line," Tonks said softly, looking down at the people walking by below, "A fine line between right and wrong in what we're doing here. How do you what decision to make when the time's right?"

"Instincts," Madeleine replied shortly, "You need to trust your instincts, 'cos the moment you don't, it won't matter anymore. In our game, you lose your instincts and you will lose your life."

Tonks nodded slowly and moved her eyes back through the scope, where they remained for the rest of the night.

**oOo**

"Brought coffee," Cole announced as he got into the back seat of a London taxi.

"Good to see you again, Cole," NSA Special Agent Tariq Shaheen said as he reached over from the front seat and shook Cole's hand, then grabbed two of the coffees, "This is Hayley Thompson, one of my agents and our driver. What do you think?"

"What if someone wants a cab?" Cole asked with a smile and Shaheen replied with laughter.

"Where are we going to pick up your contact here?" Hayley questioned looking back at Cole through the rear view mirror.

"On the other side of Piccadilly," Cole replied, pointing his hand in the direction of the large Ferris wheel.

Hayley pulled the taxi over to the side of the road and a dark- haired man with vibrant blue eyes opened the back door and hopped in next to Cole.

"Cody, long time," Cole said, handing him the remaining coffee, "Where to?"

"Just keep driving around," Arlington answered her, "How is Tonks going?"

"She's deep in, so is my agent," Shaheen answered, "Tonks and Keating have managed to get themselves assigned together to the mission here in London. They are tracking the Prime Minister as we speak, looking for a way for ELF to breach security."

"They find one?" Arlington questioned as he sipped his coffee, "And I know your agent's name is not Keating. I have introduced myself to her file. Interesting."

"Not yet," Cole told him, ignoring the rest of Arlington's statement, "We're hoping you could help us with that."

"Can't we take Klefta out without using the Prime Minister with as bait?" Arlington asked looking from Cole to Shaheen. However, the look on their faces told him that they had no plan B. "I'll have to speak to someone from MI5. But we can't allow this group a way in. It could be the biggest threat to national security that any of us had had to face since 9/11."

"Voldemort will just find another way to kill the Prime Minister," Cole stated plainly, "Another time, another method, but he gets what he wants. We need to make a statement to him. We need to annihilate Klefta and his group."

"You wanna fight fire with fire?" Shaheen asked, his voice laced with concern.

"That is what I do," Cole replied simply with a smile, "There is no country for old men like him."

Shaheen, Hayley and Arlington nodded silently but looked grave. They all knew what Cole would do for this cause. After all, nobody likes a Superman with an over-developed trigger finger who's motivated by an inconsolable rage.

**oOo**

Tonks lay wide awake in bed later that night looking at the ceiling. It was nearly midnight and she hadn't slept a wink.

"Have you ever been in love?" Maddie asked from the bunk bed underneath Tonks' in their hotel room.

"What makes you bring this up?" Tonks retorted, still staring at the ceiling, "Have you ever been in love?"

"I still am," Maddie admitted softly, "But I struck out on my luck."

"I'm sorry?"

"I have another question for you, Sophie, though I am well aware that that is not your true name. Why did you get caught up in this game? You must have a very serious reason for doing what you do."

"I am assuming that you do. I got involved in this because I wanted something more in my life. I had a happy childhood, nothing to give me reason to go into this life. I can't explain why I felt drawn to it."

"I lost someone. He was murdered. I searched day in and day out for vengeance. It did not help. I am trapped in this hell. You've never lost anyone that you loved?"

"No," Tonks answered slowly.

"You are lucky then. When you find the man you are truly meant to be with, don't ever let him go. Live your life without regrets, Sophie."

"My name is Nymphadora Tonks. I choose to believe that you are my friend and that is why I am telling you this."

"My name is Caitlyn Riley and my husband's name was Terry. We had one son, Oliver. He's seven and living in Paris at the moment in an NSA safe house with his nanny."

"You gave up your life with him to pursue this life?"

"I don't even understand my decisions, Nymphadora."

"Oh, please call me Tonks. Everybody else does and you would have them do so too if your mother decided to make the wretched decision to call you Nymphadora."

Caitlyn smiled widely for the first time that night. "I'm glad to have met you Tonks."

"I was glad to meet you, too," Tonks replied with a smile.

The two ladies were silent for no more than a minute when Cole shimmered directly into the middle of the room.

Caitlyn reacted first, pulling her gun out from underneath her pillow and aiming it at Cole's head.

"Cole!" Tonks whispered loudly, slower to react, "Are you not at all worried about exposure?!"

"Change of plans," Cole answered quickly, "Put your weapon away. It will not help you anyway." Caitlyn did not move at all, but Cole merely turned to face her, ignoring the weapon that was in his face. "You're being read into this mission. The whole mission."

"I don't understand. How the hell did you do that?"

"Come on, Agent Riley. Part of your training is to be open to things that cannot be explained by the natural world. You were CIA before you were NSA, right?"

"That's right," she answered, finally lowering her weapon, but holding it tight in her hand, "Who are you, exactly?"

"Have a seat," Cole said, his eyes pointing at the bed. He pulled up a chair behind him and sat down and then launched into a long explanation about both of the magical worlds, including magical demonstrations by both himself and Tonks to prove his story.

"I can't believe this," Caitlyn said finally after a few moments of silence, "This is so far out of my reality."

"It's not really," Cole stated forcefully, "Your son. He exhibits magical behaviour. He is a fire-starter, isn't he? And it all started when he found out that his father was murdered. I've studied your file. I can help your son. But I desperately need your help on this case. Our world depends on it, Caitlyn."

"What do you need me for?"

"To work with Tonks. The stakes are about to be raised. Klefta's coming to London. He'll be here tomorrow. And he is on a deadline. That means so are we."

Tonks looked down and away from both of them. "It's showtime."

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**A/N: As I said, please review.**


	17. Aftermath

**Okay everyone. I have to apologise ardently and whole-heartedly for how long it took me to update but I was having the worst case of writer's block for this story. I have finished uni for the year, so (hopefully) I will not experience another dry spell like that. So here's the next chapter. Please review.**

**Disclaimer: Same as other chapters.**

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**Chapter Seventeen: Aftermath**

It was late in the Gryffindor common room. Everybody had gone to bed long ago, but Harry, Ron and Hermione were seated in their favourite armchairs by the fire. They were waiting for Chris and Dominic to arrive so that they could speak about the most recent Dark event to shock Hogwarts.

Chris arrived first, just after midnight. "Hey, guys. Anyone else around here awake?"

"Not that we know of, Professor," Harry replied. "Most people went to their dormitory at around eleven thirty."

"Did you speak with Professor Dumbledore, sir?" Hermione asked Chris.

"Not yet," Chris answered gravely. "He was at St Mungo's earlier today to visit Katie. But I did speak with Cole, uh, Professor Turner."

"Where is he?" Ron questioned in his signature dumbfounded tone.

"London, I believe," Chris replied shortly. "But I don't know what he's doing there. Apparently, it's need to know and I don't."

"Hey, are you in here?" they heard Dominic's little voice cry.

"Yeah, Dominic, in the common room," Harry called back. Dominic walked in and sat on the lounge chair between Hermione and Chris.

"Shall we get to the point?" Harry suggested, before turning to Dominic. "Was Malfoy involved in what happened?"

"Harry!" Hermione said warningly, her eyes screaming for him to shut up.

"It's possible," Dominic told them, ignoring Hermione's outrage. "I know as much about what He Who Must Not Be Named was planning with him as you do."

"Understood," Chris said forcefully, looking directly at Harry.

"Is there any way that you can find out?" Harry asked, ignoring the glares from Chris and Hermione.

"I will talk to Draco," Dominic decided. "But I cannot let him know my reasons for asking such questions. I don't want him to think that I am playing both sides here."

"I'm sure he already thinks that, Dominic," Chris piped up in a grave voice. "Trust me, I know the position that you're in."

They were silent for several moments before Hermione spoke. "It's late. Perhaps we should continue this discussion another night?"

"I agree," Chris answered, leaving the boys with no choice but to agree as well. They bid each other good night and Dominic headed out of the common room with Chris as Harry, Ron and Hermione headed up to their dormitories.

"Dominic," Harry called out, causing the young blonde to turn around. "Be careful."

Dominic nodded and followed his teacher out of the room and through the painting.

**oOo**

Cole sighed as he walked at an Olympic pace through the castle and up to the Headmaster's office. Chris had informed him of the Katie Bell incident, which had occurred the day before, and he was now very anxious to speak with Dumbledore. The news had made him fear for his mentor's life.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Cole called out, entering the man's office.

"Come in, Cole, and have a seat," Dumbledore called back.

Cole walked deeper into the office and saw Dumbledore reading at his desk. As soon as he sat on the chair across from him, Dumbledore removed his half-moon shaped glasses and gazed directly into Cole's relentless stare.

"What's troubling you?" Dumbledore asked in a sweet voice.

"Why was I not informed about yesterday's incident in Hogsmeade?" Cole retorted. "I had to hear it from Chris this afternoon."

"The simplest explanation is that I did not want to trouble you, Cole. How fairs your undercover operation with Tonks?"

"Do not change the subject, _sir_," Cole shot back with emphasis on the last word. "You could be in grave danger. I believe that that necklace was a targeted assassination attempt on your life, sir."

"I am definitely able to look after myself, Cole," Dumbledore said, unperturbed by Cole's outburst. "I do not want you to worry about me."

"Sir, I don't have much of a choice," Cole replied with indignation. "I am currently trying to save the Muggle Prime Minister's life and I can't do that if I'm distracted trying to save yours."

"Then do not allow yourself to become distracted," Dumbledore advised. "Tell me about the recent developments of this mission."

Cole gave in. The man was unrelenting and stubborn. He could never get him to admit that his life might be in grave danger. "It's not going very well. Yesterday, Klefta flew to London and simultaneously decided not to use the dispersal equipment that the CIA provided me with to pass on to him. It means that we have no way of tracking it."

"But you still have Tonks," Dumbledore pointed out. "Don't underestimate her."

"I'm not. But to make matters worse, we now have reason to believe that he will carry out the biological attack during a summit meeting with the American President. Voldemort is attempting to smite two birds with one stone. This means that we'll have to involve the United States Secret Service and I definitely do not want to do that. It's obvious to me that there is a leak in either the CIA, NSA or MI6. The last thing that I want to do is add to the chance of this op getting out by including yet another agency."

"We are nearing the end, then?"

"I believe so," Cole replied. "Which means that I should be going." Cole stood up to leave but turned back to face his mentor. "Please take care of yourself, sir."

"I will, Cole," Dumbledore answered. "And you, too. Phoebe will not forgive me if I do not return you in one piece."

Cole nodded and walked out of the office.

**oOo**

Dominic knew his brother too well. He knew when the older boy was under stress and where he liked to go to clear his head. It was this knowledge that he exploited to finally get the chance to speak with Draco Malfoy alone.

"Draco, is that you?" Dominic asked as he ran up the steps to the Owlery. It was quite early the morning after he had had the discussion with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Chris about the Katie Bell incident.

"Dom?" Malfoy shot back confusedly. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Dominic answered as he sat down on the top step next to his older brother. "I'm worried about you, Drake. You look tired."

"I've been under a lot of stress lately," Malfoy admitted in a soft voice. "But it is nothing that I want you to worry about."

"Perhaps you should not be as sloppy then?" Dominic suggested. "Don't try to deny it. I know that you were involved in that incident two days ago."

"I wasn't involved, Dom," Malfoy responded in a forceful tone.

Dominic merely shook his head in response. "I am not stupid, Drake. I know that the Dark Lord has plans for you here at Hogwarts. I assume that, after the incident, you are trying to kill someone. Harry? Or Dumbledore, perhaps?"

"I am warning you, little brother, stay out of it."

"People are asking questions, Drake," Dominic told him. "They think that it was you. And very soon, they're gonna find evidence that it was you."

"You are a lousy double agent, Dominic," Malfoy announced in all-knowing tone. "Don't think that I don't know that it's Potter that's accusing me. And I know that you've been working with him. My only question is why."

"I am playing on the other side to save you, Drake," Dominic shot back with some anger.

Malfoy did not answer him but softened his gaze. Dominic was the only person in the world that knew the softer side of his big brother. Malfoy stood up for him when he was bullied by their father or the Death Eaters or even Voldemort. Sure he taunted him in public to maintain his image, Dominic knew that, but the boys shared a deep bond with each other. A bond that they kept hidden from the outside world. It was a partnership that no other human being knew about. They kept it that way so it couldn't be exploited.

"I may be beyond saving," Malfoy told him in a low voice. "Go to breakfast. Your friends will wonder where you are."

Dominic nodded and walked back down the stairs, turning back when he reached the bottom to see his brother's mournful glance in his direction. He had to do something to get Draco out of this.

**oOo**

Caitlyn and Tonks were meeting with Klefta in a few minutes to discuss what they had learnt. Their ploy was to act as though they could not find and efficient way to disperse the _Y. Pestis_ so that they might learn of how Klefta planned to do it. It was a plan that they were banking on.

"Mr Klefta will see you now," his number two, Alexei Matvey, told them. They silently walked into the room and sat down on the two chairs in front of his desk.

Klefta stared at them for a few moments before speaking. "You two were very good. You stayed off the radar right up until now. For that, I applaud you."

The women were confused, but both had the dreaded feeling that they had been made.

"You, Miss Keating, are NSA and I'm guessing that you are MI6, Miss Moreau," Klefta announced, attempting to prove how smart he was.

Tonks and Caitlyn did not react. They were taught how to act in these situations and how not to. Tonks was thinking very fast, trying hard to come up with a solution. Caitlyn remained motionless, waiting for a solution to present itself to her. They saw three armed men enter the room behind them. Tonks moved quickly, pulling out her wand and directing it at one of them. If there was a time to escape, it would be now.

"_Avada Kedavra!"_ she shouted, killing the closest man instantly.

"_Expelliarmus!"_ the man furthest away shouted. As he approached, Tonks recognised him as Macnair, one of Voldemort's Death Eaters.

Klefta picked up Tonks' wand and pocketed it. "Now, will you be civilised, Miss Tonks?"

Tonks swore under her breath and sat back down next to Caitlyn.

"I know that you are not MI6," Klefta continued, directing his statement at Tonks. "Although that is what you would wish me to believe. I know all about the man who hired me to carry out this assassination. This was not about money. This was about survival. The Dark Lord promised me clemency for my actions and will allow my group to prosper in the new world. It is a shame that you are standing in the way of him implementing it."

Tonks did not speak but stared back at him as he continued to rant. "You are an Auror and a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Impressive, but neither group will save you now. The only decision I have to make is whether or not to keep you two alive long enough to watch me destroy Western civilisation as we know it."

Klefta waited for either woman to respond, but when they didn't, he indicated to two of his men. "Take them below and make sure they cannot get out. I will deal with them later. For now, we have work to do."

Tonks and Caitlyn were shackled and tied to bedposts in the basement of the house they were in. Their mouths were bound and gagged and they were stripped down to their underwear. Tonks closed her eyes, desperately trying to get into contact with Cole. She only hoped that he could find them in time and stop the attack.

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**A/N: So what did ya think? Please review and let me know. I only got two reviews on the last two chapters, so please (I'm asking nicely) review if you're reading this. I accept anonymous reviews, too, so even if you don't have an account, you can still drop me a line.**

**Next chapter: A lot of action in honour of the new James Bond flick, a tragedy and Tonks/Lupin scenes. Maybe even a Cole/Phoebe scene.**


	18. Save the World

**Hey everyone. Sorry the chapter took forever but I'm not moving on from this bout of writer's block. I'm nearly finished my NCIS story and once that is done, I will not write another one until this story is finished. **

**Disclaimer: Same as other chapters.**

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**Chapter Eighteen: Save the World**

Cole was beyond the stage of worry. Tonks had never missed a check-in with either himself, Arlington or Tariq before. He knew that there was a good chance that she and Caitlyn were just too busy to check-in, perhaps they were in the middle of an operation, but his instincts told him better. Tonks was in trouble and it was his fault. Lupin may have been right in this instance. Perhaps she was not capable of taking on the burden of this task. But he didn't want to think like that. He'd chosen her for a reason and it was because she's damn good Auror and an even better agent.

Now he was sitting by the fire on an early Monday morning at the Burrow. He was tending to spend more and more time away from the US again, but not at Hogwarts, and this was something that really peeved Phoebe off. Cole wanted to show her that he could make things work between them, but work was the very thing that was dragging him away. Since Dumbledore put him in charge of counter-Death Eater activity within the Order, he barely had time to eat and sleep let alone see his girlfriend and their two sons.

"Cole," Arlington announced himself, walking into the Burrow. "Are you here?"

"In the living room," Cole called back to him.

"Ah, Mr. Arlington," Molly said sleepily, walking into the room. "Can I fix you a pot of tea?"

"No, I'm just fine thanks Mrs. Weasley," Arlington answered before turning back to Cole quickly. "I just received word from MI5 that the Prime Minister has a surprise meeting with the US President at Number 10, Downing Street today."

"We've lost contact with Tonks and Riley," Cole told him urgently, rising to his feet. "We're gonna need as much back-up as possible here. LEO!"

The Elder orbed in front of him. "I'm busy, Cole, what is it?"

"I need you to alert the girls to an attack here in London on the British Prime Minister and American President," Cole told him urgently.

"What?" Leo questioned. "Is this the super-secret case you've been working on?"

"Yeah and Tonks is, well was, undercover and now she's missing," Cole answered him in a slightly panicky voice. "I need the Charmed Ones."

"What's going on down here?" Arthur Weasley asked as he walked down the stairs in his pyjamas.

"Change quickly and find as many members of the Order as you can," Cole told him quickly. "We'll meet back here in one hour. Cody, when's the conference due to take place?"

"At midday," Arlington replied. "Shall I alert the US Secret Service and let them know that their president may be in danger?"

"They'll call off the conference," Cole replied, shaking his head. "We need to catch Klefta's group today. We have to prove to Voldemort that we're stronger than he thinks we are."

"You're using them as bait," Arlington pointed out.

"Only until we know that Klefta's shown up," Cole reasoned, though he knew his reasoning was faulty. "Then we get the Prime Minister and President outta there."

"How? Magic?"

"Yeah," Cole replied simply and then shimmered out, leaving Arlington with his mouth open.

**oOo**

Cole trampled up through the thick wintery growth of the Hogwarts forest and towards the castle. It was still early, but he was hoping to grab Chris and enlist his help. He finally found the young whitelighter in the Gryffindor common room with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dominic Malfoy. They were in deep discussion about something over a pot of tea and some biscuits.

"Professor Turner!" Harry near-shouted when he saw Cole and then remembered that there were people still sleeping.

"Hi guys," Cole said back quietly and then turned to Chris. "I need your help. I know you have classes and I already left a note with Dumbledore."

"Can we come?" Harry asked, rising to his feet. "You won't find enough Order members as quickly as you would like to. We can help, you know that we can."

Cole conceded his point but still did not want to put them in danger again. Dumbledore would not like that. "Sorry guys, this is dangerous. Voldemort's using a Muggle eco-terrorist group to assassinate the Prime Minister and American President with a biological weapon. It's big and I've been working on it for three months."

"You're going to need our help, Cole," Hermione told him, using his first name to show exactly who they were with each other.

Cole nodded. "Okay, fine. But stay together and keep an eye on everything. Both eyes!"

They were already changed into Muggle clothing with their wands, so they grabbed their coats off of the lounge chair and walked towards the door. Cole noticed that the small blonde boy was following.

"Dominic, you're a first year and definitely too young for this," Cole told him. "Go back to your common room and you can hear all about it from these guys tonight."

"With all due respect, sir, I have spent months with these Death Eaters," Dominic replied, staring straight up into the older man's eyes without a flicker of fear. "I have lived with them. You're gonna need me to point them out to you if they're there."

"Fine, but no fighting," Cole told him. "You're staying with Chris."

Dominic nodded and the six of them headed quickly out of the castle, towards the forest to orb or shimmer out.

**oOo**

The crew that were manning the hideout where Tonks and Caitlyn were being held had long since left the building. They were alone now, but still could find no way out of the mess. Caitlyn had been taken early that morning and returned in a bloody mess. She had been beaten severely and there were cuts all over her near naked body. Tonks was trying to keep her conscious, but it was not easy.

"Tonks, you should get outta here," Caitlyn told her. "You've already cut through your ropes."

"I can untie you as well," Tonks told her, changing back into her clothes as she walked towards the seat that Caitlyn was tied to.

"There's no time," Caitlyn told her. "I'll just weigh you down and you need to get to Downing Street now. Cole and Tariq don't know about the snipers. You have to warn them. They will be killed too. You have to save your leader and mine."

"I'm not leaving you here," Tonks maintained.

"Go," Caitlyn said again. "You can't magically transport yourself out of here, can you? Which means that you're still going to have to break out. You can't do that carrying me on your back."

Tonks nodded, tears gripping her eyes. "I don't wanna leave you here."

"Take care of my son for me," Caitlyn told her. "When you get out of this mess."

"I'm coming back for you," Tonks told her firmly. "Don't think that I'll just leave you behind, I'm coming back."

Caitlyn nodded, her head dropping to the side. Tonks stood up and pushed the cover of the ventilation shaft in, she climbed through it, taking one last look at Caitlyn before embarking on her road to escape.

**oOo**

Cole managed to break into a small room in the residence of the Prime Minister and used it as the home base for the Order with Arlington's help. They met with a few members of the British Secret Service, as well as Tariq's NSA team, as members of the Order started to pour in. Kingsley was already there and ready, Lupin, Moody, Mr. And Mrs Weasley and Mundungus had arrived and Harry, Hermione, Ron and Dominic were standing idly by the door with Chris. Mrs. Weasley had already reprimanded Cole for allowing them to come along.

The Charmed Ones arrived a little after them with Leo. Phoebe walked up to Cole and slapped him across the face. "You ditch us for months and then expect our help?! What the hell is the matter with you?"

Cole ignored the sting on her cheek and addressed the other two sisters, who were silently seething at him. "Did Leo explain the case?"

Piper nodded, but Paige just stared at him.

"Right, well," Cole began, keeping his voice low. "Most of you have received press passes. If you have, you will be stationed downstairs and looking for signs of the Death Eaters or anyone suspicious who may be with Klefta's crew. Keep your eyes open." And they left.

That left Cole in the room with Tariq, Arlington, Lupin, Chris and the kids. All of a sudden, Tonks Apparated in front of them.

"Nice of you to drop in," Cole said with a smug smile.

But Tonks was not smiling. "Caitlyn and I were caught. Our covers were compromised and I managed to escape but I couldn't bring Caitlyn with me. She's still locked in the basement of an apartment building here in London."

"We'll get her," Tariq put in. "But first we need to stop the assassinations."

"They're going to use snipers if the bio attack doesn't succeed," Tonks said quickly. "I don't know where they are."

"Right," Cole said, thought visible on his face. "Cody, Tariq, with me. We're taking the President and Prime Minister out of this. Chris, go with Harry, Hermione and Ron to the roof and find those snipers. All of them. I want their positions. Dominic, go with Lupin and Tonks and find the Death Eaters and ELF members. The other Order members are already down there. We shoot to kill this time."

"But Dumbledore..." Lupin began before Cole angrily cut him off.

"Dumbledore is running this mission, I am!" Cole retorted. "Spread the word. Don't let them live."

Lupin nodded and walked out of the room with Tonks and Dominic. Well, stalked more so. He didn't want to kill unnecessarily but he knew Cole was right. The Death Eaters and their Muggle counterparts were going to give no quarter, so what choice was left?

"Are you okay?" Lupin asked Tonks as he walked beside her heading down to the conference room.

Tonks quickly Imperiused the guards to let them through and Dominic was trotting along behind them. "I'll be better when we get Caitlyn back," she answered, her voice tripping up a little.

Lupin stopped and turned to face her. He didn't say anything, but bore his eyes deep down on hers. She knew they had work to do but her gaze didn't waver.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but we're on the clock," Dominic said, stepping between them.

Tonks looked away sheepishly and Lupin snapped back into reality, taking charge of the situation. "Right, can you see anyone from ELF or any Death Eaters?"

"Not yet," Dominic said.

"No," Tonks answered.

Meanwhile, Cole shimmered, with Arlington and Tariq, into the room where the Prime Minister and President were waiting before the press conference. Agents with the US Secret Service and the Prime Minister's own security rushed forward, quickly getting over the shock of the three men appearing out of thin air and aimed their weapons at them. With the flick of Cole's hand, he collected the guns and dropped them at his feet.

"Relax, we're the good guys," Cole said with a happy voice. "And you, Mr President, Mr Prime Minster, are in grave danger." And with the mumbling of a few words, Cole transported everyone in the room to another location.

"What the hell was that?" the American President shot out as soon as he got his footing back.

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**Reviews, please. I got like two last chapter. So please review. I'll try and get the next one up soon.**


	19. Taken Out

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

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**Chapter Nineteen: Taken Out**

"What the hell was that?" the American president as soon as he got his footing back.

"I have neither got the time nor the patience to explain it to you," Cole responded. He craned his neck over the confused and slow-reacting MI5 and Secret Service agents and down a dark passage. The cave he'd shimmered them to was part of the outskirts of the Underworld, but he knew nobody ever came by it. It was a haunted domain known by the few demons and warlocks that even knew of its existence. Little was known that it was actually Cole that had done the haunting from time to time.

Within in seconds of their arrival, Leo had followed and orbed in after them. "You brought them to the Underworld?!"

"They will be much safer here, Leo," Cole reasoned. "You can stay here and make sure of it while I take out the Klefta and any Death Eaters back at Downing Street."

"What-" Leo began but it was no use. Cole had whistled at Tariq and Arlington who joined him not more than a few moments later and he shimmered them out of the cave almost immediately.

"Death Eaters," the Prime Minister commented as he sat on a jagged and large rock. "I should've known they were involved."

"You know something about this?" the President directed at him in a snarl. "What the hell is going on?"

In a non-committed way, the Prime Minister looked to Leo for an explanation. Sighing as he sat down with the two world leaders, who were still surrounded by confused and hyper-alert security, Leo began a tale of how this all occurred, magically blocking the conversation out to insignificant ears. He knew all along that this type of mediation was exactly what was in his job description as an Elder, but he definitely didn't have to like it.

Meanwhile, Chris was scouring around the rooftops invisibly and Harry was similarly wearing his cloak. Hermione and Ron, on the other hand, had taken up a stationary position on the rooftop of Number 10, Downing Street. With binoculars in hand and an earwig connection to Chris and Harry, they reported spotting a flash of a possible muzzle in two locations on the roof opposing their building. Chris and Harry were going to check each out separately.

Harry could feel the adrenaline as he silently crept up behind the first sniper. The man was well camouflaged, but Harry could see him clearly now. With his wand at the ready and his feet making very little noise, he edged closer to the man and muttered a curse. _"Petrificus totalus."_

He watched the man's form stiffen but remain unmoving. Smiling to himself, he magically bound the prisoner and alerted Chris. Ah, the wonders of modern Muggle technology, he thought to himself with a smile. At first, Ron had found the earwig strange and dissatisfying, but he soon jumped at the chance to have one when he realised what he could do with it.

Chris subdued the second sniper in a similar fashion, but also interrogated the man into giving the locations of anymore shooters on the rooves. Harry was unsure of how his teacher did it, but the second sniper revealed the exact place of two more snipers and two spotters. He, Harry, Ron and Hermione subdued them quietly and locked them in a closet of the Prime Minister's residence unconscious.

The Order members that had spread throughout the main galley of press and the other rooms open to them were having less trouble. Dominic, along with Lupin and Tonks, had managed to spot three Death Eaters in the room, but naturally, they couldn't do anything without drawing unwanted attention.

They couldn't simply evacuate the building—the ELF would panic and set off the device prematurely and there would be total destruction, so the Charmed Ones and Tariq's NSA team were looking for the best possible source of contamination.

"Tonks said that the virus is airborne," Phoebe hissed to her sisters as they moved with great effort and difficulty through the thick crowd that had gathered eagerly to hear the speeches of two great world leaders.

"This just keeps getting better and better," Paige responded mockingly.

"There is a strong current of air flowing through this room," Piper noticed as she looked around.

"Air conditioning?" Paige suggested.

"Ducted heating," Phoebe announced, pointing at the air vent above her head that ran parallel to the ceiling.

Piper was the first to alert the others. Bringing her wrist up to her mouth, she muttered, "They're gonna use the air vents."

Cole responded instantly and Tariq and Arlington called their respective teams to check out the side of the building where the reverse cycle air conditioning system was attached.

"What are you going to do?" Cole hissed at Arlington.

"Calling in the big guns. We come heavy and take them clean."

But it took the SWAT teams a lot longer to arrive then it took Cole, Tariq and Arlington. They slipped behind the garbage bins in the alley and saw five men approach with three heavy-looking bags. "Take them out," Cole muttered to his comrades as he readied his own gun in his right hand. He was trying to minimise the use of magic and thereby minimise the threat of desire. After all, he could always deal with the Prime Minister, President and their body guards at a later date, but not a whole street full of people. Each of their weapons, a SIG, Berretta and Walther, carried a silencer with the expressed hope that they could defeat the five men _silently_.

Cole stepped out and took the first few shots, catching them unaware. He killed the front man instantly and the other four dove for cover, pulling out their own weapons, Russian-made AK-47 assault rifles, as they did so.

And so a gun battle ensued. Cole took out two more of the shooters in only five shots and then took cover behind a large bin. Arlington jumped over the bin he was behind and took out a shooter that had taken cover on the opposing side with a single shot to the head. That left the final man for Tariq. Seeing his comrades die had given him a new fright but also a new surge of adrenaline. He stepped forward and fired the remnants of his cartridge directly at Cole. Tariq moved out from behind his fellow American and fired three fatal shots coupled around the man's heart. Cole fell back as the gunfire was unleashed in his direction. Arlington immediately jumped towards his fallen friend. "Cole! Are you hit?"

"Yeah," Cole said breathily. He sat up with his left hand clasped over his right shoulder. "It's through and through. Don't worry. It'll heal itself in a moment or two." Arlington and Tariq watched expectantly as Cole's gunshot wound healed itself.

"That's a little freaky, man," Tariq muttered.

Hearing gunshots in the alley outside the building only caused widespread panic inside. Paige and Phoebe were almost trampled as the crowd inside tried desperately to escape. As they managed to get to their feet and side-step the moving swarm to the side of the room, they lost sight of the three men and two women that they suspected to be ELF members. Lupin, Tonks and Dominic similarly lost the three Death Eaters that they'd caught sight of in the stampeding horde.

"Dammit," Lupin ejected angrily.

"Come on," Tonks told him. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the emergency exit, Dominic in tow. They ended up in the same alley that Cole, Tariq and Arlington were in. Seeing this, Paige, Piper and Phoebe followed them out.

"Where's everyone else?" Cole said over the top of his gathering team.

"We're right here." He heard Chris' voice from above him. They looked up to see Chris, Ron, Hermione and Harry coming down the fire escape.

"Success?" Cole asked.

"We took out four snipers and two spotters," Harry replied.

"Without firing a shot?"

"Unlike you, Professor, we weren't carrying weapons."

Cole looked quite impressed. He was about to speak when he was interrupted by a woman calling his name from the end of the alley. Mrs Weasley, her husband, and Mundungus Fletcher were trifling their way out of the crowd and walking briskly towards them.

"Great, so now that we're all here, how many got away?" Cole asked with a great sense of urgency in his voice.

"Well, nobody here," Chris commented, looking down at the five slain bodies. "And we left our six unconscious in a cleaning wardrobe on the top floor of that building." He pointed it out to them.

"Three inside, at least," Piper spoke up. "We were pretty sure that they were ELF members."

"Three more confirmed Death Eaters," Lupin told Cole gravely. "And there were probably more."

"Where would they go?" Cole asked, looking directly at Tonks.

"Probably the building that they were holding Caitlyn and I in," Tonks answered in a panic. "She's still there, Cole. We have to go back now!"

"Where is it?"

"Across the Westminster Bridge and next to St Thomas' Hospital."

"Paige, take Piper and Phoebe home; Arlington, get your team to babysit the bodies and the unconscious snipers upstairs," Cole ordered. He turned to the remaining members of his team. "Let's go."

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**Author's Notes:** Yes, I know I haven't updated this story in about 6 months, but writer's block coupled with a busy uni schedule and other stories pushed my writing of this back a bit. I apologise. I probably won't update this for at least a fortnight, but I am very determined to finish it.


	20. The End in the Beginning

**A/N:** Hi everyone. Again. I know that it's been a really long time since I updated anything, but I've been trying to get into the swing of things once more. I thought I'd start with the oldest open story, which happens to be this one. I hope you enjoy this new chapter and I know I won't get many reviews, if any, but I hope that at least one of you reading this will leave me some feedback. Don't be shy.

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter One.

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**Chapter Twenty: The End in the Beginning**

Getting into the warehouse was easier said than done. It appeared to Cole, as he arrived as silently as a ninja in the night, that the man in charge had ordered the remaining, armed ELF Muggles to patrol the perimeter whilst staying out of sight, so as to not arouse the suspicions of any commoners. Cole presumed that he had the stronger, more battle-weary Death Eaters securing the inside of the building. Clearly, somebody knew they were coming.

In a hasty decision, Cole ordered Tariq and the NSA agents with him to take out those protecting the exterior, while he made a side door entrance into the building with Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dominic and a few members of the Order. They were not to know just how many Death Eaters would be inside, but they expected a difficult battle nonetheless. It soon became apparent to Cole that most of the Death Eaters had escaped from Downing Street unscathed. As they entered, and the Death Eaters realised that it was Cole Turner leading the charge, many of them fled to fight another day.

_And clearly, some of them did not expect us to come,_ he mused as he brought his destructive power down on the closest two Death Eaters, killing them instantly.

"Find Caitlyn," he ordered in Harry's direction, meaning for all the Hogwarts students and Tonks to do so.

Lupin and Moody leaped forward into action, duelling with two Death Eaters each, while Mr Weasley and Mundungus shuffled around the back to take those closest to what appeared to be the warehouse's main office, leaving its entrance clear for Cole to proceed. He did so in a timely fashion. A man sat behind his desk, waiting, with a Beretta 9mm in hand.

"That will not save you now," Cole warned gravely, and he shut the door behind him.

**oOo**

There were two Death Eaters guarding the door to the room that Tonks had been held in with Caitlyn. The stood erect and ready to pursue any danger, and Harry knew they'd have a tough time getting past them. He also knew that with the element of surprise on their side, he stood a much better chance of defeating them.

"Take that side," he whispered hastily to Hermione and Ron, leaving him with Dominic and Tonks on the other side. "Pick a spell or curse or whatever and aim well. But wait for my signal. We're taking them together." Then he turned to Tonks. "Leave those Death Eaters to us. You get Caitlyn outta here."

He pulled his wand out of his pocket and turned to face the guards, still shielded by the doorway, and then, after the count of three, he launched his unwilling body forward and took them head-on. A flurry of spells succeeded.

Harry was right about the element of surprise—the two guards were down and out without having fired a spell in their direction. Tonks raced into the room, only to find their efforts went to waste. Caitlyn had been killed. They were too late.

**oOo**

"I have been told that Leon Tyler is not your name," Klefta pointed out, his tone unchanged.

"Have you been told my real name?"

"Yes, Mr Turner," he replied with a slight grin, "and I've also been told to avoid any dealings with such a dangerous man."

"What did Lord Voldemort ask of you?" Cole demanded quickly, jumping right into the heart of things. He had never really been one for the bores of diplomatic small talk.

"I think you know," Klefta answered, but when Cole said nothing in the moments after, he extended his reply appropriately. "His targets were the British Prime Minister and the American President. I was simply a weapon to be disposed of when the job was completed. Nothing more."

"Did you think that I would spare you if you told me that?"

"That is not your style, is it?"

Cole leant coolly against the wooden pane of the doorframe. "You don't know what will happen to you."

"Gitmo?"

"Maybe, but I hear it might be closing," Cole answered with a smile. "You won't be my problem for very long."

"What are you waiting for?"

"My comrades to finish off your pathetic band of followers outside and come in to take you away," Cole replied monotonously. He felt no feeling at all towards Klefta, in spite of how the day could've turned out. Instead, Cole resigned himself to the thought that he would not have a say in what would happen to Klefta, so any exchange between them would be a waste of his energy. But, perhaps, Klefta could still be of some use in these dying few moments.

"Did Voldemort say anything to you that gave you cause for concern? When did you work out that you were just a pawn in his game?"

"I knew that from the beginning, Mr Turner," came Klefta's grave reply. "You should not underestimate my intelligence. I can play politics as well. What I did, I did for survival. He came to me long ago, when his plan to revive and rule again was in its infancy. I used the position and beliefs of radical ELF members for my own gain. And his. I'd like to think that if the Americans allow me to live for so long, I will be rewarded when the Dark Lord assumes power."

"You're a Muggle," Cole elucidated smugly. "Don't think that he will reward you in any way. He would rather turn hunting you into his favourite sport."

"Do not be so sure. He cannot control both magical worlds and the non-magical world without understanding the latter. He will need Muggles to do his bidding. And I intend to become one of them. He will give me the ultimate power. If you live long enough, Turner, you will see."

Tariq and his crew burst into the room, shaking Cole from his position against the wall, and not a moment too soon. Cole looked ready to lose his patience, and the Order still needed valuable intelligence from Klefta. The confined man made no statements when two American agents led him away in handcuffs. He did not even look at Cole.

"I thought you would kill him," Tariq commented to Cole.

"It was tempting."

"Well, I'm glad that you didn't, because we can get invaluable intelligence from his interrogations."

"Assuming he'll talk."

"He will," Tariq said optimistically. "With the threat of Voldemort out there, he'll spill everything he knows."

"Don't be so sure," Cole warned. "Even the Americans cannot protect him from Voldemort. And he will not risk his own skin by revealing anything, no matter what you do to him."

"I hope for the Order's sake, Cole, that you're wrong."

"Harry," Cole called out, noticing the boy's appearance in the office.

"We were too late," Harry informed him gravely. "Tonks said that there was nothing we could have done. That we got here too late."

"What do you mean?" Tariq asked quickly.

"Caitlyn's dead. She died."

Cole gave him a slight nod but said nothing. In truth, he wasn't sure what to say to Harry. They had done everything they could to rescue the other agent, a co-worker of Tariq's, and although he knew that there was a chance that they wouldn't find her alive, he'd expected them to. After the day they'd had, the month they'd had, Cole had very much wished for a happy ending.

**oOo**

Phoebe had wanted Cole to remain in San Francisco that night, but he chose to retreat to Hogwarts instead. It wasn't as though he didn't want to spend time with her, or with their family, but more that the feeling a failure had left him in a dark void and he didn't feel worthy of their sweet company.

A solemn and lonely knock rang through his quarters. He walked, not at all in a rush, to answer the door. Dumbledore was standing in the doorway, with the Elder, Gideon.

"This is a pleasant surprise," Cole mused.

"We're sorry to bother you, Cole," Dumbledore told him politely, "but may we speak."

"Of course, Professor. _Professors_." He allowed them entry to the living room, which Chris had kept neat and tidy, and probably unused, for him.

Gideon remained standing while Dumbledore took a seat in the comfiest armchair by the fire. Cole chose to lift himself up on to the bench that led opened into his small, cosy kitchen.

"Your team performed admirably today, Professor Turner," Gideon praised in a highly formal tone. "It is a great credit to your leadership and ability to inspire greatness in others. You will be a formidable weapon to be reared against Lord Voldemort."

"I believe that he knows I already am," Cole said without the Elder's formality. "You did not come here to praise me, so why don't we just cut to the chase?"

"Of course," Dumbledore agreed. "You are tired, after all. We won't take up too much of your time."

"What's this about?" Cole questioned, starting to get a little nervous.

"Whispers," Gideon answered vaguely.

"In the Underworld?"

"No," Dumbledore replied simply, as Gideon pointed to the heavens above.

"And you can't tell me?"

"No, Cole, because not even I have been told," Gideon told him briskly. Cole could tell that this fact annoyed Gideon greatly.

"What could be such a secret that a few Elders would choose to hide it from the others?" Dumbledore questioned aloud. "That is the question that I want answered."

"I have a lot of questions I want answered," Gideon spat out rather angrily for a divine being. "But first and foremost, I have rumours of a..." He took a pause to find the right word. "Guardian... of sorts. I want to know who this guardian is."

"A guardian of what?" Cole asked, abandoning all diplomacy and manners.

"I would like to know that also," Gideon told him. "And we have decided to make it your duty to find that out."

"Your next assignment, Cole," Dumbledore reiterated. "In some respects, it will be easier than your last, and you will certainly have more time for your family and your classes. But I'm afraid that you will have fewer resources at your disposal. We cannot allow too many people to find out what we are up to."

"I am the only Elder to reside below all the time," Gideon informed the dark-haired professor. "And the deliberate and direct refusal of the other Elders to allow me into this circle somehow leads me to believe that it will have most effect here on Earth."

"Well that only narrows it down to almost everything," Cole pointed out sarcastically.

"I know that we haven't given you a lot to go on, Cole," Dumbledore said in his soothing, charismatic voice, "but that is because we, ourselves, do not know much at all. As it stands, you now know as much as we do. But we have faith in your abilities to learn more, Cole."

Feeling trapped, Cole smiled and nodded to the older Professor. He could hardly say no, plus, he was interested to find out what the Elders were hiding, although he sensed that Gideon knew more than he was letting on.

"And with that, I will bid both of you farewell," Gideon announced. "I trust that we will see each again, Professor Turner. Soon." And he orbed out before Cole could get a word in.

"Have you met Gideon, Cole?" Dumbledore asked, intrigued.

"Briefly, sir. A few months ago. He is an Elder."

"Not just an Elder," Dumbledore responded as he stood from the comfortably warm chair in front of the fire. "He also runs Magic School."

"So I've been told," Cole muttered, not too loudly.

"Do you need anything before I retire to my quarters?"

"No, sir."

"Then I will also bid you goodnight."

"Goodnight, sir," Cole expressed warmly as he walked the elderly Professor out to the hallway. Closing the door after himself, Cole decided that now was a good a time as any to finally get a good night's sleep. He changed speedily and lay down in his heated four-poster bed. Darkness enveloped him not long after.


	21. Something to Talk About

Thanks to those who read and reviewed. I hope you like this chapter. Again, please do give me some feedback.

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One: Something to Talk About**

Their kiss was soft and sweet, and, yet, it was a blur of unrestrained emotions, a mixture of colliding passions and an explosion of deep-dwelling feelings rolled into something special that had ignited between the two of them. But both knew it was not set to last, and, finally, she felt him pull away.

"We should not be doing this," Lupin warned. His conscience woke up and a realisation dawned on him. He snapped back into his right state-of-mind.

But Tonks wouldn't have a bar of it. She tried to kiss him again, but he shunned her away. "We cannot hold back how we feel, Remus."

"You are in an emotional state," he contended desperately, "and you are _not_ thinking straight. You lost a friend to a terrible fate today. Nobody can expect you to be in a good frame of mind. And I feel as though I am taking advantage of such vulnerability."

She pushed against his chest. "I am anything but vulnerable and you don't need to be so concerned. If you're trying to convince me of your good moral character, you needn't. I already know who you are."

Lupin sighed. "Dora, this cannot continue. I am a werewolf. You are not. And this pairing, it just won't work. We cannot keep denying ourselves when we are with each other."

"You are talking about the superficial. I am talking deeper than that. I am talking about how you feel, Remus. Why are you making this so difficult?!" She threw herself away from him with such anger that he could feel the raging emotions coursing through her tiny, sculpted hands.

"I am making things difficult?" he questioned in a low, dangerous tone. His own anger, anger at her for calling him out on his feelings, and at himself for not being able to express them, was driving him dangerously close to a cliff face. "You are making this difficult. You cannot accept the fact that we can't be together. It is not possible. And you can't let go of it!"

"I am not letting go of what we have, Remus!" Tonks shouted back with the same ferocity.

And he just looked on at her, his mouth quiet, for fear of saying something that would get her riled up again, or something that he would grow to regret. "I think it's time for me to go."

She instantly lamented over driving him away. He was right about one thing—she was emotional over Caitlyn's death and she didn't want to be alone. The bright side of her mind, however, which was the one still functioning as a cohesive squiggle of neurons, saw the wisdom in his decision to bail out with some grace and dignity intact.

"Perhaps you should," she said finally, after much deliberation. But he could tell that that was not what she was thinking.

Slowly and cautiously, he opened the door and stepped outside, welcoming the cool breeze of the night's sub-zero temperatures. He grabbed his scarf from the rack by the door and tightened it around his neck, trying to preserve some heat for the short, magical trip back to the Weasley's. Giving her one last look before he Apparated, he said, "I'm sorry for all the pain that I've caused you." And with that, he was gone.

**oOo**

Most of the Order was watching TV at the only Muggle-ised residence that they knew—the Halliwell Manor. Their great adventure had been plastered all over news networks from CNN to BBC to Al Jazeera all evening, not to mention what was on the local networks.

"_There was, at no time, any call for serious concern about the safety of the President," _the interviewee reported, until Lupin cut across him.

"Whatever did happen to the American President and the Prime Minister?" he questioned in Cole's direction, which happen to be off into the kitchen.

"Leo took care of it," Cole rambled back, carrying assortment of platters from Piper in for everybody to snack on.

"So he doesn't know about the magic?" Harry questioned in disbelief, before helping himself to a cracker with Philly cheese and salmon.

"The President?" Cole asked. "No. They know there was a security risk; they don't know how bad it was, although, I suspect that Scrimgeour would have spoken to the Muggle Prime Minister."

The reporter was speaking again now. _"Sources inside Downing Street have stipulated that this was a joint effort between a number of intelligence agencies. This is Christiane Amanpour reporting live from London."_

"That's all we get," Ron spurted out unexpectedly. "A number of intelligence agencies?!"

"What did you want, Ron?" Dominic asked, as if the older boy had said something ludicrous. "A medal? Remember, we don't exist."

"Who do they think is responsible for the attempt?" Hermione asked Cole, speaking up for the first time.

"Protestors to the war in Iraq," Cole replied with a slight smile. "The public doesn't know anything about a bio-weapon or any terrorists."

"That's probably for the best," Lupin jested. "Muggles seem to have a habit of panicking."

"No, I think that's a human characteristic," came Piper's reply as she brought one more platter from the kitchen. Cole dashed over to help her out, since she was, by this stage, very heavily pregnant.

After she left the room, Lupin dropped a comment to Cole. "She looks just about ready to drop anchor."

Cole shot him a look and shook his head. _He has oh so much to learn about the subtleties of speaking to and about women. No wonder Tonks isn't here. I wonder what he said?_

But Cole could wonder no more. A message was coming through on the cell phone that he always carried with him, even when it didn't work in the magical Hekabeic world.

_66d. 30min. N; 25d. 43min E._

With the message there was a photo of what looked to be a pub of some sorts. And Cole could tell by its architecture that it was probably somewhere in Scandinavia. He grabbed his long coat and yelled out to Phoebe, who had joined the Order members downstairs in the living room, that he'd be back in about an hour. He closed the door behind him, checked that nobody on the street would spot him, and then shimmered to the location that his cryptic friend had given.

**oOo**

Winter at Hogwarts did not come close to the well-below freezing temperature that he experienced the moment he stepped foot into the alley beside the restaurant, _Arctice_, itself a "winter wonderland," as proclaimed in its sign. Sirius waved to him as he entered.

"Whiskey? Or _vodka_?" He made his best attempt at a Russian accent.

Cole shrugged at the offering and sat down while Sirius ordered in Finnish. "Why the North Pole, Sirius?"

"I like to keep moving," he replied in a jolly mood.

_Maybe the Christmas cookies are getting to him_, Cole thought and honestly believed it. "Why?"

"Stops the Elders from being bothered to really look for me," he answered with a shrug.

"I need to talk to you about the Elders," Cole said in a more serious tone, cracking through the jolly mood of the approaching wintry holiday. His dark discussion would not suit the decorations in the room around him, but he did not choose the meeting place.

His companion poured them each a small glass of the restaurant's finest vodka and left the bottle on the table. "What about them?"

"Is it safe to talk here?" Cole hissed in a low tone.

"Why do you think I chose somewhere with an extreme climate? There are no wandering ears here."

Cole nodded and began his story, keeping his voice as hushed as possible. He told Sirius of the previous evening's meeting with Dumbledore and Gideon, and everything they'd told him, and then passed on his thoughts about them. "Dumbledore is still keeping something from me, I know that, but it hasn't got anything to do with what he told me last night. Gideon, on the other hand, I don't know. There is something off about him."

"He is a valued Elder and good leader," Sirius responded gravely. "And one of the only ones I think I can trust and respect."

"I know that and I do trust him-"

"No, you don't," Sirius cut across. "You don't trust anyone."

"That's not true," Cole retorted defensively. "I trust you and Phoebe and Dumbledore and lots of people."

"Only the ones you can personally vouch for," Sirius commented. "If I referred you to someone, you wouldn't trust them, not matter how many times I harped on about their character."

"Yeah, yeah, okay, but this is wartime."

"That's true." Sirius raised his glass and beckoned Cole to do the same. "To our trustworthy friends. May their honesty reign even in the eyes of deceit and lies."

"Hear, hear."

Cole picked up the tab and they left the restaurant. Sirius turned to him as soon as their boots suck through the powdery snow. "What do you want me to do?"

"You can get in up there. I can't. I need you to listen out for anything about a guardian or a powerful magical being or something related. I'm going to use my resources at Hogwarts to research what they could be talking about and what we're dealing with. I'm sure Gideon will help me and lend me his books at Magic School."

"You want me to spy on the Elders? It's suicide."

"Nonsense, Sirius," Cole said, laughing it off as a joke as passers-by stared at them. He tone changed as soon as they were gone. "You're already dead."

"And I don't want to be thrown out of heaven. What if they catch me?"

"Will you listen to yourself? Since when did you start playing by the rules. We may need this information. If it helps us destroy Voldemort..." He let his voice trail off. Sirius knew the implications of what such information could do for the Order. They may yet be strong enough to defeat the dark lord.

"I'll do what I can, but I'm not promising anything," Sirius agreed.

Cole slapped him on the shoulder. "Great news. So I'll be getting back to Phoebe and you, head on up there. Make a start."


	22. Witch Wars

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. This one is based strongly off the Charmed Season 6 episode, Witch Wars. Enjoy, and please review.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Witch Wars**

Cole could sense Chris' anxiety as they waited patiently, or one of them did, in Dumbledore's office. He was due to return from Magic School any moment with the illustrious, albeit, less eccentric headmaster of Hogwarts' sister school in the Galeic world. Cole was watching the young part-whitelighter, part-witch jump from seat to seat, first on a chair in the middle of the room, then on a stack of heavy books by the door, and then finally on the grand desk itself. He was about to say something, when the whirl of a portkey brought the elder gentlemen to rest in front of them.

"Good evening, Professors," Cole greeted politely. Chris said nothing.

"I need you to go to the Underworld, Cole," Dumbledore ordered, leaving out his usual small talk. "And Chris, you should return to the Manor. Paige and Leo are there alone with your innocent."

Cole's ears perked up at this. "Where's Phoebe?"

"Running down a lead on who's after Wyatt with the crime reporter from her paper," Chris answered. "I think she might be on to something."

"On to what?"

"She thinks that it might be someone we know," Chris replied simply.

Cole turned to his mentor. "What do you think?"

However, it was not Dumbledore who answered, but Gideon. "It's preposterous. For normal humans, maybe, but this is a powerful child in a family with powerful enemies."

"Gideon is probably right about this," Dumbledore added.

But Cole shook his head. "On some degree, what Phoebe is thinking makes sense. We've exhausted every possible demonic source short of Voldemort and when I was ordered to take out the Charmed Ones, I had to get close to Phoebe to even consider it a possibility."

Gideon, however, had other ideas. "You should be focused on this witch-killer," he pressed. "The timing suggests that this is the perpetrator."

"Timing?" Cole questioned with a quizzical look at Chris.

"Whatever happens to Wyatt happens before I'm born," the youngest in the room explained.

"That makes things quite possibly more difficult," Cole pointed out. "We're running out of time and if it is Voldemort behind this, then we are not prepared for it." He turned to Chris. "You should've told us sooner."

"It is not time to blame, Cole," Dumbledore advised, seeing the burnt look on Chris' face, "but to look to future for ways that you can repair this. You need to find out who is killing these witches." And the headmaster truly believed that. After all, two witches had been killed by unknown demons so far, and it was only a matter of time before another fell.

Cole nodded and started out the door, when he was stopped.

"You may want to start with those that you are in league or looking to be in league with Voldemort, and there's probably more than one," Gideon counselled.

Nodding, Cole left without reply. The others disembarked soon after.

**oOo**

Cole got back, tattered and sweaty, from his latest expedition to the Underworld to see Leo healing Chris. He had seen what had happened on the TV in a seedy demonic Underworld bar that he was using to gather intelligence on the witch-killer. It was there that he found out about the demonic reality show, Witch Wars.

"He was attacked by a darklighter," Paige told him unnecessarily.

"I know," Cole answered. "I saw it on Witch Wars. In fact, they can see us now. And they're probably remembering me as the quiet, brooding upper level demon sitting at the bar for the better part of an hour."

"We're being watched right now?!" Chris questioned as soon as his father's healing had been completed.

"Sons of bitches," Paige cursed. "Where are the cameras?"

"What cameras?" Chris asked, looking around for the invisible devices with his aunt.

"There's some kind of live feed going on in the crystals," Leo told him.

Cole stepped into the middle of room. "And it's being directly fed to demons in the Underworld."

"Except, I think they cut it off," Paige said, searching the surface of the ruby-red crystal in her hand. "I'm not seeing anything."

"Well, who?"

"It's a demonic game show called Witch Wars," explained Cole. He, like Paige and Chris, was searching the room for the hidden cameras. "Sort of like Survivor but only for demons. I watched part of it while I was down there, but then I saw this happen and came right back again."

"Are you serious?" Paige questioned and Cole returned the look.

"Actually, I heard something when I was down in the Underworld," Chris spoke up, "but I thought it was just a rumour."

"You thought it was just a rumour?" Paige said accusatorily. "And you didn't tell us about it, why?"

Angry, Chris snapped back at her. "Because I didn't think it was relevant."

"Okay, that's your theme song today. Did you notice?"

But before the argument could ensue, Leo altered the course of their conversation away from Chris' faults and poor judgment. "At least it explains how the demon you trapped today knew that the witch died."

"He was watching it on TV," Paige blurted out distastefully. "Pretty sick."

"No sicker than any other reality TV show," Leo commented.

"Only except this one is killing good witches for entertainment," Cole retorted in Leo's direction and then looked at the floor. "Even when I was a demon, I despised those that killed for pleasure."

"So what did you kill for?" Paige asked, interested, only to be nudged in the ribs by Leo.

"Paige!" he hissed at her under his breath.

"Power," Cole answered, ignoring Leo. "And I think we should get out of here. They are probably watching us now, and if they are, then we don't want our conversations overheard."

"Cole's right," said Leo. "Grab what we need and we'll head over to-" A look on Cole's face interrupted him, begging him not to divulge the locations that they would run to. "Head out."

Cole nodded and waited for the others to orb out before taking one last look around the room and then shimmering to Magic School, when they would meet up again.

**oOo**

"Where's Phoebe?" Cole asked as soon as they arrived at Magic School.

"She's still at the office with that crime reporter, chasing down leads on who's after Wyatt," Paige answered as she shuffled through pages in the Book of Shadows.

"But she's in trouble!" Chris announced quickly and panicky. "I can hear her call."

With not a second to lose, Cole shimmered out immediately and arrived at the Bay Mirror at the same time as a darklighter. Confused, but more concerned for his love, he dashed to Phoebe's side and then shimmered out with her. They arrived at Magic School moments later.

"Are you okay, honey?" Piper asked urgently as she waddled towards her sister.

"I'm fine, Piper," Phoebe answered. "Thanks to Cole."

"You're welcome," he said, his arm still wrapped around her shoulder, holding her tightly.

She shrugged him off to hand Paige an athame. "I took that off the shapeshifting demon that tried to kill me."

"I'm gonna look in the Book to see if we can find it," Paige announced. It took her a few minutes to do so, while Piper brought Phoebe up to speed on what they had found out so far. "Found it. Power sucking athame." And she placed the blade on top of it carbon copy.

"And?" Piper asked.

"And, well, that's it," Paige concluded.

Phoebe reached for it. "It doesn't say what type of demon uses it or what the WW stands for?"

"The WW stands for Witch Wars," Cole answered, "and the type of demon that uses it is pretty much all demons."

"How do we find them?" Phoebe questioned in his direction specifically. Cole just shrugged. She continued. "We could try scrying with the athame or the crystal thingie?"

"No, I tried," Paige answered.

"How about a Return to Sender spell?" Phoebe suggested.

Paige sighed out of frustration. "Tried. Our magic is blocked."

"So then we've got nothing," Phoebe observed, flattened by exhaustion and defeat.

"Can Cole-" Piper began before that very man interrupted her question.

"No, I can't. They know what I look like now, so I wouldn't even get through the outer rim of the Underworld, not now that every demon watching this show has seen me on TV."

"Well, we do have a house full of cameras and an Underworld full of voyeurs," Paige said, feigning happiness.

They argued and discussed and mused over plans for while, sending Piper to lay down after it got too much for her and leaving Paige, Chris, Cole and Phoebe to finish the job. They were at it for a while when Gideon finally came to rescue them, announcing good news. "I think I might have something that can help."

He placed a dusty old book on the cluttered table in front of them.

"It's the crystal thingie," Paige broadcasted needlessly. Cole, Chris and Phoebe could see that.

"It's actually an ancient form of magical voyeurism," Gideon enlightened. "The ronyx crystal predates even the crystal ball. Our demon friends must have found a way to put a new spin on an old idea."

"Wait a minute," Phoebe said loudly and she approached the book to inspect it more closely. "It's got an incantation to activate it." She picked up the crystal and read the incantation aloud.

Cole was surprised to see it work, since he didn't believe, by the sounding of the incantation, that it would. Music played over a Witch Wars display and they soon heard a dark voice narrating.

"_Welcome back to Witch Wars. Tonight, on a very special episode, you'll see the ultimate battle, when the gamesmasters themselves take on not just any witches, but the legendary Charmed Ones. It will be winner takes all... and we will take all... their lives, their powers... and last, but not least, their progeny."_

The image of the demon faded away to leave a silent room, filled with a calm horror and disbelief.

"That's what their show is about?" Phoebe said finally. "Killing us?"

"And either me or Wyatt," Chris put in.

"It has to be Wyatt," Gideon concluded, "which means, oh yes, this makes perfect sense."

"What about any of this makes perfect sense?" Paige questioned tiredly.

"Don't you see?" Gideon pushed. "These gamesmasters are the demons that you've been looking for all along. The ones who are after Wyatt."

"Don't be so sure," Cole warned, looking gravely at Gideon. "It could just be a ruse to get you off the real perpetrator's back. Somebody else could be using these demons to do their bidding and confuse us. We need to get them and make them talk."

"But think about it," Gideon continued, ignoring Cole. "They've been collecting powers, hoping to gain enough to be able to collect yours."

"And then get Wyatt's," Chris finished, the realisation dawning on him.

"It does make sense," Paige admitted.

"I'm gonna kill them," Leo decided, definition in his voice.

"No, Leo, you're an Elder now," Gideon reminded him. "Non-violent, remember?"

But the father was still seething. "Watch me."

Gideon took a breath in, but said nothing. Phoebe, meanwhile, posed a bigger question. "We're going to have to find them first. Do you think we could trace the signal back to them?"

"No, not without Piper," Paige put in. "I think they're too strong already."

"No, we don't need Piper," Phoebe said with finality. She picked up the athame and spun it around. "Because we have this. And they're not going to kill us on TV. We're going to kill them."

"How do you propose we do that when we can't find them, Phoebe?" Cole questioned, the agitation that he had built up over the long day showing.

"We don't need to," she said. "They'll come to us."

**oOo**

Waiting until they split up, Cole travelled to the Underworld with Phoebe and Leo and took out the female gamesmaster with ease, leaving the other to Chris and Paige.

"Now that's good television," Phoebe stated with a smile after Leo orbed in from behind the demon, stabbing her in the back. "Now give me that athame."

"Are you sure about this, Phoebe?" Cole asked, already certain of the answer.

"It's for Wyatt," she replied. Leo reluctantly handed the blade over and Cole could see, almost immediately, the powers held in it take over her body. Cole looked expectantly at her.

"Feels good to have powers again."

"Give 'em hell," Leo said.

And the two men watched her shimmer out.

"Will she be okay with those powers?" Leo wondered aloud, or just loud enough for the other to hear.

"Oh, she'll be fine," Cole said confidently. Using the crystal, they watched Phoebe shimmer back into the manor and destroy the other gamesmaster with a single energy ball.

"See what happens when you make a play for our baby?" Phoebe threatened in a manic, dangerous voice. "Who wants to play next?" There was a pause and Cole and Leo could see her taunting the audience. "What's the matter? Scared of me?"

And she disappeared.

"Where'd she go?" Leo asked desperately.

"Oh, don't worry," Cole replied calmly. "If I know Phoebe, then she went to finish this off with all the powers she's collected. It'll be a shame when she has to give them back."

"Well, she better give them back. Come on, let's head back to the Manor."


	23. We Three Kings

A slightly shorter chapter here. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three: We Three Kings**

At the speed Christmas was approaching, Cole was beginning to wonder where his school term went. His greeting back at Hogwarts after the Witch Wars debacle could not have been worse. Harry was waiting for him, alone, to give him news of what he missed out on.

_Teenage tangled love lives,_ Cole pondered with a smirk. _Something that I could have done without. _

Harry told him about Hermione and Ron and the birds, the Ron and Lavender, and Hermione and Cormac. Cole rubbed his temples until Harry finally got the message and stopped. "So what have you been doing then?"

"Spending a great deal of time with Ron or Hermione separately, and when I can escape them, Dominic and his friend, Connor," Harry answered matter-of-factly.

Cole hid his laugh with a cough. "You'd prefer to hang out with first-years?"

"Dom and I are trying to find out what his brother is up to," Harry sparked defensively. "And he is up to something. Something big."

"Are you sure you're not bored?"

"How can I possibly be bored? The Gryffindor common room has turned into..." Try as he might, Harry couldn't find the right comparison.

"Days of our Lives?" Cole finished for him.

Harry gave him a stern look. "I never watched that show."

"Yeah, well, you watched something soppy with Phoebe."

"Anyway," Harry said with finality, obviously attempting to change the subject. "Have you been invited to Slughorn's party?"

"Yes," Cole replied simply, "but I think I'll find some way out of it."

"I tried and couldn't, and I am a master of worming my way out of difficult situations," Harry pointed out. "And if I'm going, then you're going." Cole gave him a harsh look. "Professor," he added as an afterthought.

And so, Cole did end up going to the party, arriving fashionably late and hand-in-hand with Phoebe, who he'd conned into coming. He looked out for Harry, but, rather, was bombarded by Slughorn, his special guest, and the special guest that the first special guest had brought along. It took them fifteen minutes to wade through the stronghold of diplomacy and politics to get to the back of the room, where they spotted Hermione. Phoebe could tell right away that the young witch was not having a good time. Leaving Cole with a vow to return, she rescued Hermione from the clutches of the _almost_ Gryffindor keeper and walked with her away from party.

No matter how hard Cole looked, however, he could not spot Harry, and did not find him that whole evening. He ended up leaving the party early with Phoebe, Hermione and Luna in tow, but none of the ladies had seen the scarred young wizard either.

**oOo**

Christmas dinner was going to be a raucous affair. The Halliwell family decided to spend it with the Order at the Weasley household and had arrived early that afternoon to assist in the preparations. Piper now looked very ready to give birth as Chris came in with his father, who was carrying Wyatt. Paige followed, carrying Jaxon, and Phoebe was wheeling a cart full of presents. Cole brought up the rear with Julian in his arms.

The preparations went well. Piper, who could not stay standing for very long these days, sat in the kitchen and ordered everybody else around instead. Chris was helping in the kitchen, so Leo and Cole bailed out and joined Mr Weasley, Harry and Lupin in the living room.

"Has it been busy at the Ministry?" Cole heard Harry ask as they sat down. Mr Weasley answered him and they began talking about Stan Shunpike's arrest. After a couple of minutes, Harry changed the course of the conversation, and asked Mr Weasley about Malfoy.

"I checked, Harry," the older wizard replied at once. "I went and searched the Malfoys' house. There was nothing, either broken or whole, that shouldn't have been there."

"Yeah, I know, I saw in the _Prophet_ that you'd looked... but this is something different... well, something more..."

And so Harry told them about the Unbreakable Vow made between Snape and Malfoy's mother and the conversation he'd overheard at Slughorn's party.

"Has it occurred to you, Harry," Mr Weasley began, "that Snape was simply pretending –"

"Pretending to offer help, so that he could find out what Malfoy's up to," Harry surmised quickly. "Yeah, I thought you'd say that. But how do we know?"

"It isn't our business to know," Lupin said unexpectedly.

"It's Dumbledore's," Cole continued. "And we need to trust him enough to make this decision. He trusts Snape and that's good enough for me. And it should be good enough for you."

"But," Harry pressed on, "just say – just say Dumbledore's wrong about Snape –"

"If you can't trust Dumbledore, Harry, you can't trust anyone." It was Leo that spoke up this time. "Gideon has told me this time and time again. We need to foster better relationships."

"And do you trust Gideon?" Cole asked in Leo's direction.

"Without a shadow of a doubt. What? You don't?"

"I'm undecided," Cole answered. "There is just something about him that gives me pause. He always seems to be there when something goes wrong."

"That's because he is passing us information and helping," Leo fought.

"Sometimes, but I'm not so sure," Cole pressed. "And the ending to that Witch Wars adventure did make me wonder a little. I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid."

"Maybe you are," Leo jested.

"But it is wartime," Lupin put in. "You reserve the right to be a little paranoid."

"Ahem." A slightly annoyed cough interrupted them. Cole turned round to see Phoebe in the doorway, her arms crossed. Without needing to say another word, he followed her into the kitchen, beckoning every other able-bodied man and strong lad to assist him, as they decorated the dining table with an array of entrees, mains and sides.

**oOo**

Christmas dinner was a joyous affair, until it was disturbed by the arrival of Rufus Scrimgeour, who all but dragged Harry outside to speak to him. And they were gone for what seemed like a long time. Harry, begrudged upon his return, shot a dark, but meaningful, look in Cole's direction. Without saying a word, Cole got up from his seat at Mr Weasley's immediate right and followed Scrimgeour to the door.

"Minister," he said politely, "may I accompany you out?"

"Why not?" Scrimgeour replied, albeit reluctantly.

Cole waited until he was out-of-earshot to stop the Minister for Magic so that they might speak alone.

"You want to know what Harry and I discussed, right?" Scrimgeour posed. His essence only exacerbated his feeling of euphoria and self-righteousness, but Cole saw past it.

"No," Cole replied simply. "I want to warn you."

"Warn me? Against?"

"Crossing me. I tried to when you first took this post."

"Are you such a dangerous man, Cole Turner, that I should feel threatened by you? You and Dumbledore do not have ultimate power, and I will find out what you've been up to, one way or anoth –"

Cole picked him up by his throat and shimmered away—right into the bottomless pits of hell, the same place he had taken many men before, and where the demon, Barbas, had been banished to by Prue. Holding Scrimgeour over the pit of fire, Cole shouted at him over its roar. "I have warned you to many times already."

But Scrimgeour kept his cool. "You do not frighten me, Turner, and your brute methods do not sway me from pursuing you and Dumbledore. We fight for the same thing and you owe me your allegiance."

"I owe you nothing," Cole spat back, "and whilst we may fight against Voldemort, we do not fight for the same thing. You and I both know that. My allegiances lie with Dumbledore and with Harry. Be at peace with that, or your very short rule will come to an end." And with that, he shimmered back outside the Weasley household and left Scrimgeour on the floor, a little singed, with his pride wounded ever more than his body.


	24. It's a Bad, Bad World Part 1

The one you've all been waiting for-- the Season 6 finale, It's a Bad, Bad World. And, like the episode, it's split into two parts. So please enjoy and do review.

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four: It's a Bad, Bad World Part 1**

Cole was fortunate that all his classes finished in time for him to see Chris off in the New Year. He had promised Phoebe that he would be at Magic School to bid farewell to his 'nephew,' in a matter of speaking, and if he had to be honest, he wanted to say goodbye to the youngster in person anyway. Chris had come passed Hogwarts earlier that day and spoken with a few of the students he had taught for Cole, including Dominic Malfoy, who was quite upset to see him go, but wished him luck for the future that he'd created all the same.

And so, Cole left for Magic School immediately after his last class, and shimmered from Hogsmeade to the old institution before Phoebe and Paige had arrived. They did, however, turn up moments later.

"Finally," Chris said anxiously. "Where have you two been?"

"Sorry," Paige apologised, "we were... uh... a little... uh... held up."

"But we're here now," Phoebe added joyously, "so let's get this show on the road, you know? The clock's a tickin'. Tick-tock. Tick-tock."

"Since when are you in such a hurry to say goodbye?" Piper asked with a small smile.

"Well, since something happened with the thing... and the thing... with the thing."

"Huh?" Chris asked.

"What' she talkin' 'bout?" Cole referred to Paige in his best Gary Coleman impersonation.

Phoebe looked uncomfortable, especially with all the stares. "There's a warrant out for Chris' arrest."

Disbelief and disappointment gripped the room.

"What?' Leo asked.

"Yeah, I tried to get Darryl to bury it but he's not really on our side anymore," Paige answered with uncertainty.

Chris, meanwhile, looked like his world had darkened again. "Oh, this is bad. If I leave and they can't find me, they're going to come after you."

"It's okay," said Phoebe. "We've been through worse. We'll get through this." Cole, who was standing beside her now, unintentionally reached for her hand. She held it. "We'll figure it out. And if you get back to the future and we're in jail, you just have to bust us out." Letting go of Cole, she reached for Chris. "You just go back to the beautiful, peaceful world that you helped create." And she hugged him. "I'm really gonna miss you."

"I'll miss you to," Chris told her.

The others took turns saying goodbye and when it was time for Leo and Chris to go, Cole stepped forward next to them, ready to go as well.

"Cole, what are you doing?" Phoebe questioned rather desperately.

"I'm the only one here who has successfully navigated through time and space before," Cole replied and then looked at the triquetra on the wall. "I'm making sure that Chris gets to his future and Leo gets back."

"I think it's a good idea," Paige surmised.

Phoebe had no comeback. Recognising defeat, she let him go. And so, the Power of Three began their spell.

"_In this place and in this hour,  
We call upon the ancient power.  
Open the door through time and space,  
Create a path to another place."_

The portal opened and Cole gave Phoebe one last longing look before stepping through first. The Charmed Ones, Gideon and the boys, Wyatt, Jaxon and Julian, watched as the three stepped back out again, but Leo and Chris looked quite different.

"Where are we?" the counterpart of Chris asked.

"I have no idea," Leo's replied.

"I think I do," Cole added nervously. He looked across from the Elder, to the faces of the Charmed Ones, finally coming to rest upon Phoebe's.

The Leo, Chris and Cole of the 'good' dimension, suffered a similar fate. Cole urged them to orb out as quickly as possible. He was still so surprised. Of all the worlds he expected to come across, he did not think it would be their kinship dimension. The evil one. And he knew exactly what could happen if they stayed there too long.

**oOo**

"What the hell was that all about?" Phoebe questioned loudly and irately as she lifted herself off the ground, dusting off her pink blouse.

"I'm not sure," Gideon answered as he did the same.

Paige was looking just as threatening and confused as her sister. "You're not sure? Chris just tried to kill me and you're not sure? We were supposed to send him back to the future, not turn him into a darklighter."

"Excuse me, people," Piper said loudly. "Those were black orbs. Where did they get black orbs from?"

"Breathe," Phoebe beckoned, walking towards her older sister with her arms outstretched. "Breathe, Piper. You don't want to go into labour yet."

"Well?" Paige asked, looking expectantly at Gideon.

"Perhaps the spell wasn't specific enough," he suggested, albeit unsurely.

"Meaning what?" Phoebe asked angrily.

"Meaning it worked, obviously. It opened up a portal. Not to another time, but... to another world. A parallel world. Not just any parallel world. One that's the exact reverse of ours."

"Reverse like what?" Paige asked. "Reverse like evil?"

"Precisely," he replied. "You see, it's all part of the grand decision. A universe destined to maintain balance. Light and dark. Ying and yang. Good and evil."

"So I just have one question for you then," Phoebe pronounced. "How come Cole looked exactly the same? He didn't look evil."

"And he didn't look good," Piper added.

"He just looked like Cole," Paige finished.

Gideon turned and stared back at the triquetra. "That, I am not sure of."

**oOo**

After visiting Darryl, and then choosing to run from Darryl, the Leo, Chris and Cole from the good world made it into the Underworld of the evil mirror dimension in search of the worst demon that Cole knew—Barbas. If he was evil in their world, and then surely, Cole knew, that Barbas would be the most powerful good demon in the evil world.

"I know the truth of all your hopes because I can feel your greatest hope inside here, the hope that one day to return home," a white-clothed Barbas told them. Their surroundings were peaceful and calm, with green grass, beautiful flowers, a flowing stream and the chirps of a flourishing bird population. "Oh, and, of course, your presence gives me great hope. The hope that someplace there really is a different kind of world, a world where the greater good... the, uh, goodness of the heart prevails."

"Is he for real?" Chris asked.

"He must be," answered his father.

Cole leapt into an explanation. "The Demon of Fear in our world is the Demon of Hope here. The question is, Barbas, do you have enough power to send us back?"

"Oh, alas, no, I do not," Barbas answered. "Not if you were brought here by the Power of the Three. But, however, hope springs eternal, so I may be able to persuade the sisters of my world to help us simply by relying on their greatest hope—the hope to reunite with your counterparts... and then... maybe..." he walked up to Chris, " you will be able to return to your time before it's too late as you hope."

A swirl of orbs appeared next to Cole, and Phoebe and Paige entered the green gardens of the Underworld.

"Oh, thank God," Phoebe said when she saw the guys.

"Quickly," Barbas advised. "Orb away. I will deal with them. I've done it before."

"No, it's okay," Leo said. "They're the good ones."

"Trust us," Chris told him. "They're not evil."

"No, but we are." Phoebe and Paige's counterparts stepped forward.

Cole watched, a little helplessly as the evil and good sisters exchanged words. And then their fight began. He knew, as they would come to know, that they were an even match and nobody would walk away victorious. He watched the two Phoebe's use exactly the same move, a move, ironically enough, that he'd taught them, and flipped backwards on to the dirt.

"Ladies, ladies," Cole joked, trying to intervene long enough for Leo to come up with a plan. "There's no need to fight over me."

"Nobody's fighting over you," they hissed back at the same time.

Cole shot Chris, who was laughing, a shrewd look. Just then, boulders sent flying between the Paige's collided mid-air, causing an awful explosion. Cole, Leo, Chris and Barbas jumped out of the way just in time.

"We don't have time for this," Leo muttered. "I gotta get back to Piper. And we gotta get you home."

"When Gideon said something could go wrong with the portal, I don't think he knew how wrong," Chris commented, tired and out of breath.

"You said Gideon?" Barbas asked, touching Chris' shoulder lightly.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because just maybe he did know how wrong it could go."

They ducked as another boulder exploded over their heads.

"What do you mean?" Leo questioned urgently as it crumbled away. "Gideon is after Wyatt?"

"He is desperately hoping to eliminate Wyatt," Barbas revealed.

Another boulder exploded.

"I should have seen this coming," Cole said, cursing himself.

There was another interruption, but this time, it wasn't an explosion. Both Paiges' phones rang, each receiving a call from Piper telling them that she's in labour.

"We have to go get Piper," the good Paige announced.

"And Wyatt," said Leo.

"And Julian and Jaxon," Cole added, with a great amount of noticeable fear in his voice. "They're with Wyatt now and I don't know what lengths Gideon will go to get to him. The boys might be in great danger if he sees them as barriers."

"Gideon's after Wyatt?" the Phoebes exclaimed.

"We should have seen it earlier," Cole pointed out, cursing himself again. "He wanted us all preoccupied so we would leave the children unattended."

"They have Dalton," the Paiges put in.

"A house-elf will not last long against an Elder," Leo commented with grave concern. "Where do you think he would go, Cole? Honestly? If you were in his position."

"The Manor," Cole answered honestly. "He may need the Book of Shadows."

"Then let's go," Leo said immediately. They orbed, or in Cole's case, shimmered, to the attic of The Manor to see Gideon with a dagger held high over Wyatt's head. Quickly, the four witches said a spell.

"_We call upon ancient lore,  
Strike down this threat,  
From both there and here,  
Make him suffer,  
Then disappear."_

The Wyatt of the evil world was screaming. "Wyatt, thank God." Both Paiges ran to him. The good Paige, however, rescinded, when she realised that it was not her place.

The Phoebe's, on the other hand, and with the help of Cole, released Jaxon and Julian, who were being held in a crystal cage on the other side of the attic. Dalton the house-elf was nowhere to be seen.

"Did you give that bad man Gideon those wounds?" the evil Paige asked when she picked up Wyatt. "Don't worry, it looks like Wyatt can handle himself."

Leo walked to the centre of the room and picked up the blade. "Yeah, but for how long? Gideon's one of the most powerful Elders. If he wants him dead, he'll find a way."

"I can't believe it was Gideon all along," Chris said spitefully.

"And he's still out there," Leo realised. "If he wasn't vanquished here, he wasn't vanquished in our world either."

"And mark my words," Cole began, holding on to a teary Jaxon, "he will try again."

"So what we need to do is get everybody back in the right place," the good Paige said.

"Yeah and fix this whole nutty balance... thing," both Paiges finished.

"The problem is that we don't have the Power of Three to open the portal," Leo pointed out.

"No, but we do have...," the good Phoebe began.

"The Power of Four," her evil counterpart finished.

Together, the Paiges drew the triquetra on the wall with chalk and the four of them reopened the portal.

"There's my brave little guy," Leo said, looking at Wyatt sitting alone on the floor in the middle of the attic. Jaxon and Julian were still bound in the crystal cage.

Leo continued, looking at Chris and Cole for help. "Quick. The portal's closing. We gotta get their men back through."

"I'll get 'em," Chris volunteered and orbed out.

Phoebe and Cole released their sons from the cage while Leo picked up his. "Hey, buddy. I got ya."

"Okay, so if evil Piper's in labour, that means our Piper must be too," Phoebe realised, telling Cole and Paige immediately. "We gotta get to the hospital."

"Okay, we have to get the bag," Paige remembered.

Cole looked around the attic one more time, before following the girls downstairs with Jaxon and Julian in his arms.


	25. It's a Bad, Bad World Part 2

And so we have-- Part 2! I hope you all enjoyed the first one. Please review.

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five: It's a Bad, Bad World Part 2**

Cole was walking down the stairs, followed by Leo, Jaxon, Julian and Wyatt when they heard a gunshot. At a rush, Cole yelled at Leo to keep the boys safe inside while he went out to investigate. And he what he found sent the blood rushing out of his face. Phoebe was lying on the ground, a hole in her abdomen. He picked her up and carried her inside, Paige following quickly, and then laid her down on the lounge.

"Leo, we need you quick," Cole said hurriedly.

"Put the boys in the playpen," Leo called out to Paige as he held his hands over Phoebe's wound. Bright lights shimmered over for moments.

"What's taking so long?" Cole questioned desperately, bordering on aggressively.

"I don't know," Leo replied, but he kept trying.

"Why didn't you heal her outside?" Cole shouted. "You wasted precious time."

"I didn't want to risk you, me or Paige getting shot as well," Leo retorted, but not out of anger; out of fear. He was concerned that it was too late to heal her, but, unexpectedly, she awoke with a start, completely healed.

"I just sent our evil twins through the portal," Chris began, although he stopped talking when he saw Phoebe. "What happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Cole put in. He sat down on the lounge beside Phoebe and grasped her hand.

"Stay with Wyatt," Leo ordered.

"I got him," said Chris.

"You okay?" Cole asked softly in Phoebe's ear.

"Yeah, just remind me not to park in Mrs. Noble's driveway again."

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?" Chris exploded out of frustration and exhaustion.

"The neighbourhood patrol shot her a point blank range and nobody so much as blinked an eye," Paige explained with a smug look.

"What?" cried Chris. "Why?"

"Because by getting us all to the evil world, Gideon caused a shift in the balance," Cole told him.

"And screwed with the grand design," Leo added.

"Well, if you ask me, the grand design was pretty screwed up in the first place," Paige commented.

"Wait," Phoebe began, "so are you saying that because of he did, our world is bad now too?"

"No, on the contrary it's good," Cole answered. "Too good."

"Where every little infraction is a capital offense," Leo put in, "and everyone just accepts it."

"Oh, so we're starring in a little film called '_Pleasantville'_?" Paige joked.

"Okay, how come we weren't affected?" Chris asked.

"Because we must have been crossing over when the shift occurred," Leo explained, with a nod from Cole.

"That must mean Gideon's not affected either," Paige said.

"No, he wouldn't be. He's an Elder," Cole answered her. "But it also means that now we can't rely on our friends here for help. Not until the balance is shifted back."

"Do you know how?" Leo asked him.

"No, but I think I know somebody who does. I'm going to find out. The longer our world is out of balance, the more danger we'll be in. Look what happened just now and all we did was step outside."

"I agree with Cole," Chris said. "We need to shift the balance back. I think Gideon will use this to his advantage and try and take Wyatt again."

"I'm going to find him first," Leo promised.

Cole shook his head. "Not until we know how to shift the balance back. He must know how to do it, Leo, and I am not spending a lifetime in this world."

Paige then stepped in to interrupt their conversation. "Oh my God, we totally forgot about Piper. We have to get to the hospital."

"Who's gonna watch Wyatt?" Leo questioned.

"I will," Chris volunteered. "Look, I didn't come all the way from the future just to lose him now, alright?"

Cole watched the wordless exchange between father and son before Leo orbed out. "I'm going to find out how to fix our world. Things cannot last like this for much longer. Chris, be watchful for Gideon. The three boys are in your care."

"I'll look after them," Chris promised. Cole nodded to him with a small smile and then shimmered out.

**oOo**

Cole's mission to find Sirius Black in the expansive French city of Toulouse was not a complete waste of time—his friend did tell him how to shift the balance back and even gave him ideas on how to do it. But there was only one that Cole liked. Gideon had to be destroyed, and to create a Great Evil, either Leo or the collective powers of the Charmed Ones would need to do it.

He met up with Paige and Phoebe as they headed to Magic School to try and speak with their counterparts. After searching his office, Phoebe had an idea. She pulled back the curtain to reveal her evil self, surrounded by the counterparts of Paige and Cole. They spoke, at length, about the nuances of their changed worlds, how much they hated it, and what they could do to change it back. That was where the Cole's came in.

"We need a great evil," both said, "and we need it to be carried out by the good on this side. It is the only way to shift the balance enough that everything will go back to normal."

"Did you two figure out why you look so similar when the rest of us look so different from our equivalents?" the Phoebes asked.

Again, both Coles answered. "I think we're as close to neutral as you can get. I don't know how or why."

"But first, we need to cast the Power of Three," the good Phoebe proclaimed. "If we cast a spell on our respective Pipers..."

'We're back to full power again," her evil twin finished.

"I like it," both Paiges announced.

And so, Paige orbed the three of them back into the attic of The Manor and the girls marched over to the Book, as if on a mission for their lives. As Phoebe flicked through the Book, Paige explained the plan to Leo and Chris. Just as Cole suspected they'd found the spell they needed, something else took hold of them. They became euphoric.

"What just happened?" Chris asked, concerned.

"I don't know," Leo replied. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah," Paige answered him with a ditzy smile. "Yeah, I've never felt better."

Cole exchanged looks with Chris and Leo.

"Okay," Chris conceded. "So back to the plan. You were saying?"

It was Phoebe turn to be bubble-headed. "Yeah, the plan was just to go see Piper in the hospital."

"That's a really good plan," Paige told him. Cole knew right off that something happened to them. It looked as though they'd consumed copious amounts of alcohol, or that they'd been hit with a handful of fairy dust, as had happened to Phoebe and Prue when they met a little girl who was trying to rescue the fairies. Or it could have been... _A spell! That's what happened to them!_ He voiced his thoughts to Leo and Chris.

"Who cast it?" Leo pondered.

"It would have to have been Piper," Cole answered. "She's the only one who could've cast a spell over them."

"Well, we can't very well ignore Chris' birth," Paige shouted euphorically. "We have to celebrate."

Chris was starting to lose his patience. "I'm the baby. I give you permission not to."

Phoebe turned to him. "Oh, you are going to be so cute! Yes, you are," her baby voice continued, "oh, yes you are. Doo-doo, doo doo-doo doo."

Cole had to shy away. The doorbell rang, finally interrupting the hellish attitude that had engulfed the household, and Darryl entered. To Cole's dismay, the inspector was not any better than the girls. And he had come to take Chris away. Unsure of what to do, Cole decided to maintain his wait-and-see policy, and stood back to watch the scene unfold before him. And he had to smile when Chris magically threw Darryl out the door.

He couldn't stay long, however. Cole made the decision to follow the girls and protect them from anymore of Gideon's tricks, not to mention he still had to work out a way to lift the spell. And in the bright, sunny world, he would have to pretend that his attitude to life was all rainbows as well, just like the soul-sucking beasts that surrounded him.

**oOo**

Cole knew that they had to move quickly. He had abandoned the girls at the hospital—they would have to take care of themselves for a while—and was hunting for Gideon in the Underworld with Leo. They had discovered, with a little help from their halves in the evil world, that the demon, Barbas, was assisting him and that they might be hiding in his lair. Gideon had killed Chris and kidnapped Wyatt, and Cole could sense the overwhelming rage of his companion. He understood it. Twice now, Gideon had put his own sons lives at risk, but he had not done the damage to Cole's family as he had to done to Leo's. And so, he vowed to do everything he could to help his Elder friend destroy Gideon. And just as Gideon had a guide, so too did Leo.

"This way," Cole advised and he led the Elder through the catacombs. It did not take long to find Gideon, which, of course, they did. Finally. They watched him lure Wyatt into a cage of crystals. Now it was Leo's turn to be the trickster. And Cole could only watch, no matter how much he wanted to help.

He pretended to be Barbas, tricking Gideon into giving him the blade. He stabbed the Elder, whose face went white with the shock. "Why?"

Leo reappeared. "Because you murdered my son." And he threw him across the lair. "I'll be right back," he told the little one.

Cole ran across the lair and released Wyatt from the cage, then picked the boy up and held him close to his chest.

Gideon, meanwhile, had started to beg. "Leo, please, you have to understand. I am only doing this for the greater good. I swear."

Leo knocked the dagger from his hand and picked him up. "How is killing a child ever for the greater good, huh? Who the hell are you to decide that, huh?" And he threw him again.

"I'm an Elder," Gideon shouted. "So are you. It's what we do."

"I'm not one of you anymore," Leo shot back. He rose up Gideon higher above his head.

"Leo, listen to me. You know what happens. You know what Chris came here to stop." Gideon was still pleading when Leo threw him a third time. "Let me finish what I started. Let me save the future... the only way it can be saved."

"You're the reason the future's threatened, Gideon... not Wyatt..."

"No..." Gideon shook his head, but he was losing energy quickly.

"... But because of what you do to him," Leo finished. "I'm about to make sure neither one of you get the chance again. Mirror."

Leo's evil counterpart appeared in the mirror that had dropped from the sky. Cole watched, shielding Wyatt's eyes, as Leo destroyed Gideon. He felt the world shift back to as it should have been. Leo destroyed the mirror, ending the cross-over connection between the worlds. He started walking over and Cole met him halfway and handed his son back to him.

"I got you," Leo told his son softly. "You're safe now. I have you. I have you."

"We should get to the hospital," Cole suggested.

Leo just nodded, in a void of disbelief and a struggle with his grief.

"Leo," Cole started to say comfortingly, "you know that if we succeeded today ad Wyatt does not turn evil, then Chris does not need to come back. He won't die here."

He got no response. The other man was still too consumed by grief. They rejoined Phoebe, Paige, Jaxon and Julian at the hospital, and the doctor came out soon after with good news. Baby Chris was brought out and placed into Leo's arms and Cole couldn't help but smile at the way their adventure has transpired. It had now come to an end—a happy ending—the kind that fairytales spoke of but that Cole had rarely seen in his life. He decided, there and then, that he was going to bask in the happiness of their family reunion, even if it only lasted a day, even just an hour, it was worth it to see his family smile. And it reminded him of what he fought for against Lord Voldemort.


	26. The Secrets We Keep

This chapter was a lot longer than I intended it to be. And one of my favourite lines that I've ever written is in this chapter, uttered by Sirius. I'll let you spot it. Please review.

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Six: The Secrets We Keep**

Cole arrived late to his meeting with Dumbledore. He'd found the letter on his desk earlier that day, which happened to be the same day that he returned from San Francisco after dealing with Gideon. He was surprised to see Harry sitting in the chair across from Dumbledore.

"Ah, Cole, you've arrived," Dumbledore greeted, a hand outstretched, "and not a moment too soon. We are a little pressed for time, so we must move along quickly. I have two more memories to share with you both this evening, each obtained with great difficulty, and of the second of which, I think, is the most important I have collected."

Harry said nothing, but Cole, still standing, did speak. "I presumed this discussion would be about Gideon, Professor."

"No discussion needed, Cole. We were wrong to trust him, but it happens sometimes and he came to us under circumstances that negated our need to do so. Needless to say, nobody, not even I, saw this coming."

"That's all you can say!" Cole spurted out. "We're lucky that he wasn't in league with Voldemort."

"He would not have been, Cole. He believed that what he was doing was right. A delusional man, nevertheless, but it would have never led him to seek out an evil as great as Voldemort for assistance. It would have spelt the end for the Order, you, me and the Charmed Ones."

"You may be right, but that we should spend this time debriefing everybody who came into contact with Gideon. He had vital secrets about the Order."

"And he took them with him to the grave, Cole," Dumbledore reasoned. "I know that you need closure, but I need you ready to move on. This is very important and can determine the course of our future. Gideon is in the past and talking cannot change how you feel about him."

Cole nodded, conceding defeat. "What do have to show us tonight?"

After recounting their recollection of Tom Riddle's journey thus far, from his birth to his acceptance into Hogwarts and his declining of Dumbledore's offer to accompany him to Diagon Alley. The aging professor explained Riddle's nature as he progressed through Hogwarts and then on to his difficulty in tracking down those with memories of him. It would seem that Dumbledore had spent much of the last forty or so years tracing Voldemort's history back as thoroughly as he could. The professor stood and continued to speak of Marvolo Gaunt, the wizarding family to which Tom Riddle was born.

"I was very lucky to collect this," he said as he poured the gleaming mass into the Pensieve. "As you two will understand when we have experienced it. Shall we?"

Harry steeped up to the basin first and bowed, followed by Cole, and they both sank their faces through the meniscus of the liquid and into the memory. Cole recognised the Gaunt house immediately, but he could see that Harry was thrown by its appearance. It was a lot dirtier than the last time they'd seen, in a memory not too long ago with Tom Riddle's mother, who was constantly beaten on by her father and brother.

They saw a man, appearing to be asleep in an armchair, until he heard a creak and jumped up madly, his wand in one hand, a knife in another. The door behind them creaked open and there stood a boy that Harry immediately recognised. It was Tom Riddle, the one he knew from the Diary in his second year.

After Gaunt tried to attack Riddle, then stopped and skidded into the dining room table, they had a conversation in Parseltongue. Harry understood every word, of course, but Cole had to rely on Dumbledore's translations. As it turned out, the Gaunt was not Marvolo but Morfin, although Cole somewhat expected this given the timeline. They discussed the Muggle who lived down the road, Tom Riddle, Voldemort's father, and then his mother, who had left them after she ran off with the senior Riddle. Cole guessed it was because she fell pregnant with Tom. But they did not get to find out what happened. It became unnaturally dark and Dumbledore grabbed both Harry and Cole and pulled them out.

"Is that all? Harry asked at once. "Why did it go all dark? What happened?"

"Because Morfin could not remember anything from that point onwards," Dumbledore replied, gesturing for them to sit. "When he awoke next morning, he was lying on the floor, quite alone. Marvolo's ring was gone."

"I'm sensing an 'and'?" Cole put in. "Was this the same night that the Riddle family was killed in Little Hangleton?"

"Yes, it was, and the Muggle authorities were perplexed."

"They had no C.O.D.—cause of death," Cole explained to Harry, who, he himself, was looking a little perplexed. "I don't believe that they know to this day how the Riddles died."

"The Ministry, on the other hand, knew this was a wizard's murder," Dumbledore continued, "and that a local wizard-hater who had attacked the deceased Muggle before lived in the area. So the Ministry called upon Morfin. He admitted to the murder on the spot and gave details that only the murderer would know. They led him off to Azkaban without a fight and lived out the remainder of his life there."

Cole was quite sure of what happened then. And he knew that it was Voldemort's doing. Harry and Dumbeldore discussed Morfin until, finally, the headmaster retrieved a vial, containing the same crystal liquid as before, and Harry fell silent at once.

"This will not take long," Dumbledore told them. "We'll be back before you know it."

They fell through the silver ceiling once more and landed in front of a much younger Horace Slughorn. In his office, they stood, with half a dozen boys around him, all in their mid-teens. Harry, once again, recognised Tom Riddle immediately. Their conversation started out fairly normal—Slughorn was joking with Riddle, thanking him for the box of crystallised pineapple, and then something happened. The room changed and swirled around them, and they could hear Slughorn's voice through the mist, unnaturally loud: "— _you'll go wrong boy, mark my words._"

The kit changed back to normal. Slughorn was dismissing the boys, but Riddle stayed back to speak. "Sir, I wondered what you know about ... about Horcruxes?"

And it happened again. The room swirled and they heard Slughorn through the mist. _"I don't know anything about Horcruxes and I wouldn't tell you if I did! Now get out of here at once and don't let me catch you mentioning them again!"_

"Time to go," Dumbledore announced. Their feet fell to the floor of Dumbledore's office and Cole immediately shook off any feeling of dizziness.

"Is that what really happened, Sir?" Cole asked inquisitively.

"Not entirely," he replied. "It was fixed, by Horace Slughorn himself, and, unfortunately, I have not been granted access to the real one. So for the first time, I am giving you two homework. It will be your job to persuade Professor Slughorn to divulge the real memory, which will undoubtedly be our most crucial piece of information of all."

"Of his own free will? Or can we take it by force?" Cole asked.

"I do not wish you to do the latter, it may drive him away from Hogwarts, which I certainly do not want. I have faith that you two will concoct another way. So good luck... and goodnight."

Harry was a little taken aback by the abrupt dismissal, but he followed Cole out nonetheless. He waited until they had left the office and walked down the stairs to discuss anything with Cole. "How do you propose we do this?"

"I don't know yet," Cole replied, "but we have some time to figure out a way. Listen, Harry, I can't stay and talk about this now. That meeting ran later than I anticipated and I promised to share something with Phoebe this evening."

"Understood, sir," Harry replied, a little disappointed. "So I'll see you in class tomorrow?"

"Definitely," Cole replied. They separated at a junction and Cole headed off towards Hogsmeade so that he could shimmer back to the Manor.

**oOo**

Phoebe was not sure why Cole had brought her to the most deserted place on the planet. It wasn't ugly, by any means, but the dense forest somewhere in the north Ural Mountains was chilling her bones. He had told her it would be very cold, so she wore thermal underwear, but this went beyond very cold.

"Why are we here, Cole?" she asked, her teeth chattering. He gave her a loving look and immediately she started to warm up. She wasn't sure what he did, but it worked.

"You'll see," he told her.

A swirl of orbs appeared in front of them and Phoebe expected to see Paige or Leo, or another Elder. She definitely didn't expect to see the face of somebody she knew—somebody she thought she'd lost. "Sirius?"

"Yes, good to see you again, Phoebe," the whitelighter said warmly, despite the chilling weather.

"You're a whitelighter?" she questioned.

"Why does everyone find that so hard to believe?"

Cole laughed and then turned to Phoebe. "This is where I've been going, mostly. Sirius has been my eyes and ears on a lot of things."

"Right," she said understandingly.

"Cole's just using me for my orbs," Sirius told her.

Phoebe burst out laughing and Cole tried, but failed, to hide his smile.

Sirius was baffled. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, never you mind, Sirius," Cole answered. Phoebe was still in a fit of giggles. "Do you have anything for me?"

"Well, there was some mention of and I quote 'The Guardian of Magic' existing, but it wasn't anything I could verify with any degree of accuracy. How did your research go?"

"Well, since what happened with Gideon..."

"Yeah." Sirius understood his meaning. "The Elders are concerned about Leo. I hear he's gone off the rails. Should I be concerned?"

"Leo's fine," Phoebe told him undisputedly. "He's just going through a rough patch."

"He's looking for Barbas," Sirius commented, unconvinced by Phoebe's argument.

Cole shrugged. "If Barbas helped an Elder dispose of one of my sons, I'd kill him too."

"So there are no issues at the Manor?" Sirius asked.

"Well," Phoebe answered unsurely, "Piper hasn't left it in weeks. I mean, sure, Chris is only two weeks old, and we already lost him once, but she won't leave and won't let anyone babysit. Dalton and Paige mainly take care of the other boys, while I'm at work, that is."

"I don't envy his job," Sirius proclaimed. "Four boys, three of them toddlers in the terrible twos stage, such that it is." He shook his head.

"I know," Phoebe agreed. She looked at Cole. "We should have a girl."

"What? You and me?"

Sirius started to edge away from them. "I can tell I'm not supposed to be in this conversation."

Phoebe snapped back and stared at him. "Well, do you have any other news for Cole?"

"Yeah, the reason I haven't heard any more on this Guardian is because all the Elders are now concerned with a new threat that may be looming on the horizon," Sirius answered.

"Could it be Lord Voldemort, Sirius?" Cole stated plainly.

The whitelighter just glared back at him. "Do you think?"

"Okay, so we still have Voldemort to deal with, as well as this ambiguous new threat that has the Elders in frenzy?" Phoebe asked.

"Pretty much," was Sirius' reply.

"That's just great," Phoebe muttered sarcastically, a sour look upturning her nose.

"Well, if that's it, I'll be going," Sirius told them. "The Elders have been keeping a closer eye on me lately. I think they know that I've been passing you information and if Odin ever got proof..." He shuddered slightly. Odin, the most outspoken and rule-dictated Elder, would not look at all kindly on Sirius' exploitation of the closely guarded secrets of the Whitelighter order.

"Take care of yourself," Cole told him.

Sirius smiled. "Take care of your family." And he orbed out.

"I'm going to guess that I can't tell anyone that he's a Whitelighter," Phoebe said as they watched his orbs fly above.

"Not yet. His death gives the Order strength and purpose. Meaning. To have cheated death will give them a false sense of security. So I vowed not to say anything until after Voldemort is defeated, and now so should you."

"Okay. What about your meeting with Dumbledore tonight? How was it?"

"I can't really discuss it, but I know that Dumbledore plans to divulge certain information with you and your sisters soon, and when he does, I can bring you up to speed."

"Right," Phoebe pondered.

"So did you mean what you said about having a girl?" Cole asked, intrigued.

"No, it was a figure of speech. I mean, of course, our lives are way too busy at the moment. It's just, that in my vision last year, I had a daughter and I've been wondering when that's going to happen."

"It's not like we even have a definitive relationship. Not with everything that's been happening and my work at Hogwarts and your work with your sisters."

"I know that, Cole. Trust me, I know that. And I would like to give our relationship some... some... definition! We were married once."

"Well, do you wanna get married?"

"I presumed that wasn't an option until we defeated Voldemort."

"Why? He doesn't dictate our lives. And I'm sure that once he's gone and if we're still alive to see that day, then there will be another threat to good magic."

"So we're going to get married?" Phoebe asked shrewdly.

"If that's what you want, then sure."

"Wait a second." She was waving her arms in front of him like a mad woman. "That's it. If _I_ want to get married, then that's what we'll do. You proposed last time, albeit in a puddle of demon dung, and you pushed for us to marry. And now all you're saying is if I want it, then we'll do it."

"What do you want me to say, Phoebe? I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life, however long or short it is, with you. And with our sons. But I know that there's water under the bridge and considering the circumstances of our last marriage, I thought you would be the one with more reservations than me."

"Yeah, but you were the Source of All Evil last time," Phoebe argued. "But if you're not going to ask, then I will."

"You will?"

"Yes, Cole. Will you marry me... again?" She felt a little awkward saying it.

Cole smiled and tried to hide his laughter. He grabbed her around the shoulders quickly and brought her into his warm embrace before kissing her passionately. They broke apart laughing.

"So I'll take that as a yes?" Phoebe asked rhetorically.

"Let's get outta here," Cole told her.

"Where?"

"Well, I have a few ideas..."


	27. The Bare Witch Project Part 1

Thanks to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter. This was just one episode in Season 7, but I wrote it too long for just one chapter, so there are two shorter parts. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Bare Witch Project Part 1**

Eight weeks passed fairly uneventfully. Harry and Cole had both tried, on separate occasions, to convince Slughorn to divulge the memory, and had, on all three times, failed. Phoebe announced to everyone that Cole and her were engaged, but she only wanted a small and magical ceremony this time, quite similar to Piper's and Leo's nuptials. Cole spent much of his time wither at Hogwarts or in the Underworld with Leo, seeking out demonic threats.

But, on his days off, he did his best to spend time with Phoebe and the boys. And so, late one afternoon after his classes had finished, which was actually morning in San Francisco, he made time to spend the day with his fiancée and sons. She had unlimited leisure time, it would seem, since her boss had hired a ghost-writer for her column so that she might take some time to recollect herself.

"That's not me," Phoebe said, throwing the Bay Mirror down on the table, the page folded at her column. She was having breakfast, or brunch really, with Cole, Piper, two-and-a-half year old Jaxon, two year old Wyatt, eighteen month old Julian, and two month old Chris.

"Yes, it is, Mommy," Jaxon told her, pointing at her photo. "It's a picture of you." He went back to slurping his banana milkshake.

"It sure looks like you," Piper added.

"No," Phoebe countered, "I mean the picture's me, it's just the column's not me. I knew a man couldn't give advice like a woman."

Cole picked up the paper and skimmed over the column. "It's seems fine to me. It's the advice I would give."

"My point exactly," Phoebe proclaimed. "Men are all about, you know, fixing the problem."

"Is that not your lot in life, Phoebe?" Cole asked, a little perturbed by her attitude. "People send you their problems you tell them how to fix them."

"First you're supposed to listen," Phoebe advised him. "Then you're supposed o validate feelings. You don't dive right in and tell people what to do like some robot. My readers are going to read that and know that I didn't right it."

"It's subtle," Cole commented, flicking through 'Glass Ceiling in Sausalito' again. "Your readers won't even know. Trust me, I'm one of them and if I didn't have insider knowledge, then I wouldn't know."

"Yes, but you're a man, which is exactly the point I'm trying to make," Phoebe told him. "I know that I left Leslie in charge, but it's still my column. I still care about it."

"Any big change takes some adjusting," said Cole as he finished his cappuccino. "So for a while, you're just gonna feel a little lost."

Phobe smiled and lent over to kiss his cheek. "See. You just validated my feelings."

Cole was about to reply when he was interrupted by the manager. "Excuse me, ladies," then he gave Cole a look before continuing, "sir, but I'm afraid you'll have to take that someplace else."

"Take what?" Piper asked.

"You know... that." And he pointed towards Piper, who was breastfeeding Chris. There was a disgusted look on his face.

"Are you serious?" Cole questioned, ready to stand up and face the man.

"It's called breastfeeding," Phoebe said, just as annoyed as Cole.

"Customers were complaining," the manger replied.

"Wha... what?" Phoebe burst out.

"Alright, let's go," Piper told them. "I gotta go anyway."

"No, Piper, you are not going anywhere," Phoebe told her. "You've done nothing wrong." Phoebe stood up in front of the guy. "You... you can't do this." Cole got to his feet, too.

"Actually, yeah, I can." And he pointed to a sign in the window that read _'Management has the right to refuse service to anyone.' _"Sorry."

"It's no big deal. Let's go," Piper said.

Cole stopped the manager as he tried to leave. "Congratulations, my friend. You just set civil rights back one thousand years." And he let him go.

Piper put Chris back into his pram while Cole picked up Wyatt and held on to Jaxon's hand, leaving Phoebe to push Julian's stroller. She was still cursing the manager as they walked away. "That's horrible."

"Just leave it, Phoebe," Piper advised.

"There's nothing you can do about it anyway," Cole told her. But that did not dissuade her from arguing her point the entire way home.

**oOo**

Much to Piper and Cole's dismay, Phoebe chose to discuss it all the way home and even when they got there. Piper was amidst calling for Leo while Cole put Wyatt and Julian down to sleep and put the TV on for Jaxon. Phoebe was now outlining her plan to write a letter to her column about their debacle that morning and make Leslie answer it.

"For crying out loud, Leo," Piper hissed in a hushed tone, across Phoebe's rant. Like clockwork, a swirl of orbs emerged before them.

"You're not Leo," Piper said to Paige and her blonde guest.

"Hey, guys," Paige said brightly and not too subtly showing that she was hiding something. "Book still upstairs."

"Wait a minute," Phoebe called out. "Hold it. What happened?"

Paige started her sentence out the same way she always did when she knew that she had screwed up and they would have to magically fix it. "Well, uh... this is Godiva."

Cole almost sighed in frustration. If it was not one thing with the girls, it was another, and it almost always lead to some complication that they always seemed to magically repair in the nick of time but not before a long and gruelling process. He wondered just what they would have to do today.

"Say hello," Paige added with a smile.

Phoebe smiled in return, but it was not a warm one, rather a faked, 'oh-my-God-Paige' one. "Godiva?" Piper questioned from behind her.

Paige nodded. "As in... uh... Lady Godiva... in the flesh, so to speak."

"Maybe you'll want to give her some clothes then," Cole suggested.

"Are they witches too?" Godiva asked Paige.

"Yeah. See the meeting kind of went a little long, got a little boring and the kids grew a little restless..."

"So they conjured a sex object?" Phoebe blurted out.

"I am no sex object," Godiva said indignantly. "I was riding through town in my natural state to protest my husband's unjust taxes." She jumped when the toaster popped.

"So how did your fight for Magic School go? Dumbledore promised me that he would make an appearance."

"He didn't show," Paige replied, a little sadly. "And then this happened..."

"That's not like him," Cole commented. "And Paige, she needs to finish that ride else it might irreparably change history."

"I got it," said Paige, annoyed, "but even worse, I gotta send her back soon or the Elders might shut down Magic School."

"They won't do that," Cole promised her. "I'm not going to let them, and I still have some ammo up my sleeve."

Paige sighed. "We need to find a spell to send you back." And she took Lady Godiva upstairs to the attic.

"See what I mean?" Piper told Phoebe. "We have bigger naked breasts to worry about."

**oOo**

Cole, now on the trail of the demon, Lord Dyson, that had been conjured alongside Godiva and was responsible for bringing to the surface the repressed anger of individuals. He had already caused an all-in brawl at Magic School, caused the Elder, Odin, to attack Paige, and was wreaking havoc all over San Francisco. Cole worked out that the more repressed anger he fed on, the stronger he got. And he feared that it was making him near invincible to defeat. And track. Cole gave up and shimmered back to Magic School.

"You'll need to summon Dyson if you want to find him," Cole informed Phoebe. "He's strong enough now to evade me."

"That doesn't sound good," Phoebe commented, and she set the candles in the summoning spell sequence, then proceeded to write the spell quickly. "We're summoning Dyson," she told her sisters as they entered the room. "Cole can't track him."

"I still think we should wait for Leo and find out what he knows about the demon," Paige suggested.

Cole stepped forward. "I agree with Paige. I'm not sure how strong Dyson has gotten and the Elders may be able to tell us a way to defeat him, if no other alternative exists."

"No," Piper said firmly, "it doesn't matter. After we send them back, history will take care of them as long as you finish your ride."

"Promise," Godiva told her. "And thank you... for giving me a glimpse of what's to come."

"Okay, here we go," Piper announced, and she read the spell.

"_We look to find the evil set free,  
bring this demon before us three."_

And so, the demon, Dyson, appeared, hunched over in the corner.

"Hi there," Piper greeted before wounding him. They raced to get the other spell out as Cole used his magic to contain Dyson.

Paige ripped the piece of paper from her pocket and read the spell:

"_From lands afar in time and space,  
take them now from this our place.  
Two that dwell so must remain,  
Send them back to their domain."_

And they disappeared into the book.

"It worked!" Paige cried. The candle lights went out in quick succession. They were cloaked in darkness. Cole heard Paige speak through the night. "Uh-oh. That's not good."

He lit a fireball in his palm and used it to re-light all the candles. "What just happened?"

"You're asking us, Cole?" Phoebe requested.

"I was kinda hopin' that you knew," Piper said.

"I have no idea," he replied. "Let's just go home."

"Well, can you guys drop me at the office on your orb home?" Phoebe asked. "I want to go in and see Elise."

"I thought you weren't looking over Leslie's shoulders anymore," Paige put in.

"Well, I'm not, but first I have to get him to pick my letter," Phoebe argued.

"Am I the only one concerned by the fact that all the lights went out?" Cole questioned loudly. "I feel like something's different."

"Well, we'll find out on our way home," Piper answered. And the girls orbed. Cole followed them, shimmering out last.


	28. The Bare Witch Project Part 2

Hope you enjoy Part 2!

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Bare Witch Project Part 2**

_And boy did things change,_ Phoebe wondered when she saw just how much. Everything was gray, white or black. Their world had no colour. Women were dressed like nuns, men were in suits.

"Oh, I told you we should have waited for Leo," Paige chastised.

"Shut up," Phoebe cried in a high pitched voice.

They left the building and walked down the street, all the while arguing about how the shift could have occurred. Finally, Cole had a suggestion to make, "Look, I think we should get outta here, back to Magic School or something, because we're attracting way too much attention."

Piper stopped suddenly before a sign. "Yeah, and we wouldn't wanna be flogged."

They walked closer and read the sign. _'__Women__ who __talk in public__ will be FLOGGED.'_

"So much for your breastfeeding campaign," Piper commented to Phoebe.

A whistle blew, interrupting them. "Hey!"

Cole chose to speak. "Yes, sir."

But it was to no avail—the four of them were thrown into lockup, but separately. It did not take long, however, for Cole to shimmer into their cell.

"What if Lady Godiva's still alive?" Paige was asking when he came in.

"I doubt it," Cole replied. "We sent Dyson back too strong."

"Well, do you have an idea?" Piper asked.

"Yes. We need to conjure Lady Godiva again and Lord Dyson, and then we need to vanquish him and send her back."

"But we need Duncan to conjure Godiva," Paige argued.

"Leo," Piper hissed.

"Oh," Phoebe said, with reservations, "what if he's different in this world too?"

"That's a mighty fine question," Piper agreed, but she called for him anyway. "Leee-oooh!"

He orbed in. "What are you guys doing here? What are you wearing?"

"Look, we're kinda in a hurry," Piper answered, "so Cliff Notes version, demon killed Lady Godiva, changed the course of history, we gotta fix it so are you with us or what?"

There was a question on Leo's mind. "Lady Godiva?"

"Look, we need to get to Magic School," Paige told him.

"It's been shut for years," he replied.

"Well, then, we need to find a kid called Duncan," Cole pushed. "Can you help us or not?"

Leo nodded and orbed Paige out, leaving Cole with Phoebe and Piper. They decided to shimmer to Magic School, closed or not. It was dusty and there were cobwebs everywhere—along the ceiling, between the stalks of candles, in the crevices of the hallway, but it was silent and safe.

Paige orbed in. "I got the spell from Duncan, so as soon as they get here, Cole, you blast Dyson and we send her back right away."

"I thought we had to send them back together," said Phoebe.

"Not if Dyson doesn't exist anymore," Cole replied. "But first, nobody has any buried resentments that the demon can feed off?"

"I'm good," Paige said.

"I'm fine," Phoebe added. "So long as Leslie's not in the room."

"I'll pretty much tell you when I'm pissed off," Piper put in. "Cole?"

"Surprisingly, life's been pretty good lately," he told her. "I'm fine too."

"Right," Paige said, and opened the sheet containing the spell.

"_Where royals once lived, so did she,  
Bring forth a naked lady from the eleventh century."_

Godiva appeared and so did Dyson. Piper was first to react, blasting him so he couldn't get away. Paige ran to Godiva and covered her with a robe. Dyson tried to feed off the two of them, but got nothing, then turned to Phoebe and Cole, and the same happened. He then turned on Piper and all expected the same thing to occur. But it didn't. Instead, Dyson fed on her repressions.

"Piper?" Paige called out.

"So much bottled up anger," Dyson said as he received more power.

Cole reacted by sending an energy ball his wall. It barely wounded him. Piper, meanwhile, turned on Leo and blasted him. "You know what? Enough with your moping! The Elders screwed you?! What about me?!"

"Piper, what are you doing?" Phoebe asked.

But she continued her rant. "I am not gonna raise two little boys all on my own because you're too busy feeling sorry for yourself! All right! So, get over it! Seriously!"

Cole tried again, his energy balls getting progressively stronger, but nothing was working. Dyson had fed too much on Piper's repressions. And then he shimmered out.

"Great, Cole," Paige said angrily. "Now we have to find him."

"Well, it's not my fault," Cole answered moodily.

They headed back to the Manor with Godiva and the girls argued to Piper about her repressions.

"Well, guys, we better come up with a plan," Paige said finally, "because Lord Dyson is out there getting stronger as we speak. When he comes back..."

"...And he will," Phoebe put in.

"He may be too strong to stop, especially if he taps into Leo's repressed rage," Paige finished.

"Unless we let him," Cole suggested.

"What?" Piper and Phoebe said together.

"Think about it," Cole pressed. "The power overload may be too much for Dyson to handle and he'll be destroyed."

But Lady Godiva still looked defeated. "I'm not going to be able to finish my ride, am I?"

They heard a shimmer and a voice behind them. "No, you're not." Lord Dyson had come. He threw an energy ball at Godiva before anyone could react, but Leo dragged her out of the way. Cole and Piper immediately returned fire. Wounded slightly from the double attack, Dyson heaved away from them long enough to allow them to run into the hallway.

"Orb her out of here," Piper told Paige.

"No," the youngest sister replied. "She won't stand a chance. He'll feed off Leo."

Dyson followed them and attacked once more. Piper blew the energy ball up midair. The force of the explosion threw the demon backwards.

"Just get her outta here," Piper ordered. "We'll think of something."

They orbed out and Piper ran upstairs, Phoebe in tow. "We'll think of something?" Phoebe shouted. "That's the best you can do?"

Cole followed closely behind and Leo lagged a little, hanging back and almost getting hit by another energy ball. He returned a stream of lightning, which Dyson evaded.

"I'm officially open to other ideas," Piper announced.

"Mine then," Cole put forward. "It can't hurt—he's already invincible."

Piper looked at him for a second and then made her decision. "Okay."

Leo ran into the room. "Okay, I am orbing you guys outta here."

"No," Piper told him, "actually you're going to let him feed on you. See ya!" And they took off. Cole hung back a little and watched as his plan work. Leo had so much pent up rage that Dyson couldn't handle it. He exploded spectacularly before their eyes.

Paige returned with Lady Godiva to see a warpath of destruction, but none of it mattered, because they all made it out alive. Cole didn't get to watch them send Godiva back to her time—his phone was ringing.

He stepped out of the room to answer it. "Turner."

"Professor Turner." He heard Harry's excited voice on the other end.

"Is everything okay, Harry?" Cole knew that Harry would be using the only useable electronic device at Hogwarts—the telephone in Dumbledore's office.

"Ron was poisoned tonight," he answered anxiously.

Cole took a moment to collect his thoughts. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, I grabbed a bezoar and he's recovering in the Hospital Wing now. Madam Pomfrey said that he should be just fine."

"Where were you?" Cole asked quickly.

And so, Harry told him, as fast as possible, the story of how Ron ate chocolates meant for Harry that were laced with a Love Potion, and how they went to Slughorn for help and then Ron drank the poisoned mead first.

"The mead was supposed to e a Christmas present for Dumbledore from Slughorn, but he kept it for himself," Harry then explained.

"As Horace would," Cole agreed. "Look, Harry, we're having a little trouble ourselves over here, so I'll check back with you when I get in to Hogwarts tomorrow."

And they hung up. Cole walked back into the room, and volunteered to help Paige rally for Magic School to remain open in Dumbledore's absence.

oOo

Cole thought that Paige made a very good argument. After encouraging Duncan, the young conjurer, to send Lady Godiva back, he was sure that Paige had demonstrated a great ability to lead and guide the students in the way of magic.

"I think you've made your point," Odin told her, pointing his finger in her direction aggressively.

"So..." Paige asked.

"So... we won't shut it down."

Paige looked relieved. And speechless. "What?"

"As long as you can prove that you can keep running it," Odin added.

"Me?" Now, in Cole's opinion, she was just plain shocked. "Aw, no, no, not... no. No, I'll find someone. Ah-ah." But Odin was already orbing away.

"You'll be fine," Cole told her encouragingly. "Headmistress Matthews."

Paige gave him an unsure smile, and was thankful for the interruption when it came. It was Cole's... again.

"You're one busy man," Paige commented under her breath.

"Turner."

"Ah, Cole." He recognised Piper's voice. Piper's concerned voice. "You better get down to that cafe we were at yesterday."

"Why?"

"Just get down here."

And so, he and Paige left Magic School to find a crowd of people outside of the cafe. They pushed their way through the group to find Piper.

"What's up?" Cole asked.

She just pointed. It took him a second to see what she was pointing at. And it shocked him. He ran through the middle of the crowd to the front and then out on to the road. "Phoebe! Can you get down from there? And maybe put some clothes on?"

Just as Lady Godiva had done a millennium ago, Phoebe was riding, naked, on a white horse through the middle of the street. "No, Cole, I'm taking a stand."

"Can't you do it without the possibility of arrest?" he begged.

She just rode passed him and addressed the crowd. They chanted and cheered for her, putting the cafe's management to shame. Cole hated to admit it, but he was very proud that she had been brave enough to stand up to injustice as she did, even if it meant that too many other men got to see what he had hoped was just for him. It was a primal and Neanderthal instinct, but he was a man nonetheless.

"So what happened yesterday at Hogwarts?" Paige asked Cole as Phoebe strode away.

"Ron was poisoned," he replied, his eyes still tracking his fiancée's movements. "He drank a glass of mead from Slughorn."

"Do you know who it was meant for?"

"Not yet, but I have my suspicions."

Paige pondered for a moment. "Well, after what happened to Katie Bell last year, do you think it's someone after Gryffindor students?"

Cole looked at her. "I can think of a few more high value targets in that house."

"Maybe someone who wanted to take out the Quidditch team?"

Now, he just thought she was throwing out any ideas. "Well, maybe, but it seems like a lot of effort to take out a sports team."

"What do you think then?"

"I think it was meant for Dumbledore," he replied, then turned to her. She could see a sadness in his eyes that was not often there, not when he was so good at hiding his feelings. "Paige, I think somebody's trying to kill him. And I think they're getting really close."


	29. With Intent to Deceive

Argh, I need to stop watching Sex and the City so I can write more chapters... I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, maybe in two days, because I start uni again this week.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: With Intent to Deceive**

"I swear," Harry told his teacher, Professor Cole Turner, as they walked down to the Quidditch pitch together, "I've been hounded and hounded that many times by Lavender and McLaggen over the past week that I'm not sure I've had a moment of peace. "It's not like I can escape to the Gryffindor common room 'cause... you know... they're in Gryffindor."

Cole just laughed. It was the day of the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff Quidditch match and Paige had said that she was bringing a group of advanced students from Magic School to watch. Phoebe and Piper had volunteered to accompany her and decided to bring the four boys along for the ride. They were already in the stands with Hermione and Hagrid.

"So I've heard some rumours," Harry brought up, forgetting their last conversation. He had intended to ask Cole about it for over a week now. "That Dumbledore had an argument with Snape."

"Did you now?" Cole said, seemingly uninterested.

"And that he had another with you," Harry added.

"And from where do you source your facts?"

"Hagrid said that he overheard you two arguing and then you were spoke about Snape and Dumbledore arguing," Harry told him. "So what was it about?"

Cole stopped walking and immediately fell behind. Harry almost started talking to himself before he realised that his teacher had stopped. "Professor? Is something the matter?"

"You're walking into the Quidditch sheds," Cole told him. "And I'm not coming with you."

"Right," Harry muttered and jogged back to meet him.

"Harry, I have to get up to the stands," Cole said, frustrated.

Harry just shrugged. "So we'll talk more about this later."

"No, Harry, we won't. You don't need to know everything that happens in this school and everything that transpires between Dumbledore and I or Dumbledore and Snape. We are adults and you are a child. And _this_ is not up for discussion." And with that, Cole left Harry standing there, dumbfounded.

He jogged up to the stands where Paige was standing with Phoebe, Piper, the boys, and about a dozen students from Magic School, as well as most of the Gryffindors. Hermione was on Phoebe's other side and with her sat Dominic and Connor. The students looked excited and were taking photos of each other and the field. The Gryffindor students were almost shocked by how naturalised into the Muggle world their magical counterparts seemed. They were wearing normal clothing, carried cell phones and iPods and Nintendo's, listened to Muggle music and watched Muggle sport. None of them had seen a game of Quidditch in their life, despite being raised in a magical environment.

_It's a good thing for those Gryffindor students, though,_ Cole wondered, _because now they understand what I've been trying to get at in my classes. This is one major difference between the Hekabeic and the Galeic worlds._

The game started with an argument between Harry and the interim keeper, Cormac McLaggen. "Isn't that who you took to Professor Slughorn's Christmas party, Hermione?" Phoebe asked as she looked through a pair of binoculars up high at the Gryffindor goalposts.

"Unfortunately," she replied.

"Well, why did you take him?" Paige asked nosily.

She looked blankly at the Magic School headmistress. "I thought it would annoy Ron the most."

"... but now that big Hufflepuff player's got the quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Bibble – no, Buggins –"

"It's Caldwaller!" they heard McGonagall shout.

"Surely they didn't let Luna Lovegood do the commentary for this match," Cole commented with the same stunned look as everybody, except for the Magic School students.

"And Harry Potter's now having an argument with his keeper," Luna told everybody serenely. Up until then, nobody had noticed, but as soon as she said that, everybody looked skywards. "I don't think that will help him find the Snitch, but maybe it's a clever ruse..."

By this time, everybody in the stands, including those from the Galeic world who weren't even sure what was happening, was laughing. She then drew to the crowd's attention Zacharias Smith, who had failed to keep possession of the quaffle for longer than a minute and was suffering from something she called 'Loser's Lurgy.'

"Seventy-forty to Hufflepuff," McGonagall shouted into the megaphone. Clearly she'd wished for a better choice in commentator.

"Already?" Luna asked vaguely. "Oh look, the Gryffindor keeper's got hold of one of the keeper's bats."

Cole looked up into the air and sure enough, Luna was right. McLaggen had taken the bat from Peake's and was showing him how to hit the Bludger towards an oncoming Cadwaller.

"Will you give him back his bat and get back to the goalposts!" Everybody heard Harry shout and watched him pelt towards McLaggen, but seconds later, they saw the keeper's mis-hit and heard a sickening crunch. Screams came from the crowd and Cole moved faster than humanly possible, using his magic to catch Harry before he hit the ground. McLaggen had lost control of the bat and it had flown into Harry's head. There was blood spewing out from a gash in the side.

"I didn't mean to..." McLaggen started, but Cole looked murderous.

"Get back to your posts before I have you thrown out of here faster than you can say 'Quidditch!" Cole shouted at him. It appeared that McLaggen would take a direct order if it came from a teacher. "And you have detention," Cole added.

"For mis-hitting?"

"For not listening to your captain," Cole retorted. "You will not play this game again, so long as I am here."

Professor McGonagall had also rushed from the stands. Cole placed Harry's limp, unconscious body on the stretcher and moved it towards the castle.

"Whoa, meltdown," Luna commented finally.

Phoebe, Paige and Piper were still horrified, but the students from Magic School were enlivened by the show of gore and violence.

"This is so much better than football," one of them told a friend.

"Hey, Miss Matthews!" another called out from the bottom row of the stands. "Can we play this game?"

"Yeah, Paige," Piper put in, with intended sarcasm. "Let them play this game."

"I think not," Paige said loudly.

**oOo**

Leo stood, cloaked in invisibility, but it was not as if he needed it. The room was dark and he couldn't see his hand in front of him. He was waiting, and watching over the two boys that slept in the hospital wing. The Elder didn't want to wake them, but he couldn't approach them without the cover of darkness either. So he planned to wait until one stirred.

It couldn't have worked out more perfectly. He saw the argument between Harry and Cole earlier that day and planned to use it to his advantage. And now the young dark-haired wizard was alone with only his best friend in the room—not like he would've been in his dormitory in the Gryffindor tower. Suddenly, so unexpected, in fact, that Leo almost jumped back with surprise, Harry bolted upright. He was awake. Leo waited as the boy whispered into the shadows.

"Kreacher?"

There was a very loud crack and Leo almost jumped again. Ron woke with a start to the sound of two house-elves rolling on the ground.

"_Muffliato,"_ Harry whispered but it had no effect on Leo. The Elder watched the elves continue to fight as the poltergeist, Peeves, came into the fold. Harry got rid of him with a curse by the name of _'Langlock.'_

"Nice one," Ron said appreciatively. "That was another Prince hex, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry replied and then he wrestled with the elf in the rags. "I've got a job for you," he told them finally, after much arguing and debating. "I want you to tail Draco Malfoy. I want to know where he's going, who he's meeting and what he's doing. I want you to follow him around the clock." He gave them additional instructions and Leo waited until they'd been dismissed to reveal himself.

Finally, with another loud crack, they departed.

"A clever plan, Harry," Leo said, still covered by his invisibility.

"Who said that?" Ron shouted at once.

Harry raised his wand. "Show yourself."

"I won't harm you," Leo said. "You know that." And he removed his invisibility.

"Leo!" both of them cried at once.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked, still surprised. "How much did you see?"

"Don't be concerned, I'm not at all worried about your tailing of Malfoy or how Hogwarts elves are used. I need to speak with you, and I need what I say to remain between us. In fact, you can think of it as similar to what your elves are doing."

"You need us to spy on someone?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Sort of," Leo replied. "I need you to keep an eye on Professor Turner."

"You're not serious," Harry blurted out. "You don't trust Cole?!"

"No, I absolutely do, but I need to know what he's up to and he won't tell me," Leo told the boys earnestly. "I know that he's having somebody, another whitelighter I'm guessing, spy on the Elders. I want to know why and I want to know who. Do that, and I'll let you in on more secrets than you can imagine. But remember, Cole is extremely wary and getting this information will be hard. Do not tell him that you're doing it for me. If he catches you, blame your own curiosity or come up with something."

"This is unbelievable," Harry commented, looking at his sheets.

"What is?" Leo asked pertinently.

Harry looked up, bewildered. "This. Everything. Dumbledore has Cole and I trying to get something out of Slughorn, I have two house-elves tailing Malfoy, you have Ron and I watching Cole and he's got a whitelighter spying on the Elders! What the bloody hell is wrong with the world!"

"We're at war, Harry," Leo told him sternly. "Deception and lies are a natural part of it."

"Even between friends?"

"Especially between friends!" Leo gave them one last look. "Don't get caught." And then he orbed out.


	30. The Subleties of Mistrust

Hi everyone. This would have been up yesterday, but, for some unforeseen reason, wouldn't let me upload. But never mind, it's here now. I hope that you all enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Thirty: The Subtleties of Mistrust**

Harry caught up to Cole, who was walking ahead of him, on his way to Dumbledore's office the following night. "Professor!" he called out loudly.

Cole stopped and turned, and waited once he saw Harry appear at the end of the hallway. "Nice of you to catch up so quickly," he told the panting and out-of-breath boy.

"I have to apologise about Saturday before we go up to see Dumbledore," Harry said to him quickly. "It's not my place to question what goes on privately between you and him. I'm sorry."

"Accepted," Cole said with a smile. "And now let's go up to see him before we're late."

"Oh, and thanks for talking care of me after McLaggen walloped me with the bat," Harry added as they walked up the staircase to the headmaster's office. "I heard that you caught me and took me to the hospital wing, and then gave McLaggen detention."

"Well worth it," Cole answered, smiling, and he knocked on the office door just as the clock chimed eight.

"Enter," they heard Dumbledore say from the inside, but as Harry went to put a hand on it, it was wenched open by none other than Professor Trelawney.

"If you will not banish the usurping nag," she cried at the top of her voice, "so be it... perhaps I shall find a school where my talents are better appreciated..."

"I hear that Paige Matthews is collecting resumes for Magic School," Cole told her, his smile twinkling. Harry stifled back a laugh. She left in a huff, being sure to step on Cole's foot on the way out.

Their lesson began as each other one had. Their first memory was taken from a house-elf by the name of Hokey, whose liege lady had been visited by a young Voldemort just days before her untimely death. Hokey was accused of poisoning her, while he made off with her most prized possessions—a cup that had once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, her ancestor, and a locket which had been Slytherin's.

The second memory came from Dumbledore himself. Voldemort had approached him, as he had done so to Armando Dippet, Dumbledore's predecessor, to ask for a teaching post. At this point, Tom Riddle was indeed known as Voldemort and he had brought a gaggle of Death Eaters along with him. Dumbledore had, for obvious reasons, denied him the position.

Returning from the Pensieve, Harry asked a question that had been on his mind since the beginning of the last memory, "Why did he come back? Did you ever find out?"

Cole, too, looked at Dumbledore expectantly.

"I shall tell you both, when you have retrieved that memory from Slughorn," Dumbledore replied. "It is pointless to continue our meetings without it. And when you do, I would like you to contact the Charmed Ones and Leo. I want them to be present at this next meeting, because I sense that they will have an enormous role to play in the destruction of Voldemort."

"Yes, sir," Cole said obediently. "And we are sorry that we have not retrieved the memory. Yes, we were very busy, but that is no excuse. We should have known that you wouldn't assign this to us if it wasn't important, and we will pour our every effort into getting it from now on."

"Exactly," Harry added, impressed by Cole's apology. Actually, Harry realised, it was the first time that he had heard such a heartfelt contrition from his professor.

"Was he after the Defence Against the Dark Arts job?" Harry asked Dumbledore on their way out.

"Oh, definitely. You see, we have never been able to keep a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for longer than a year since I refused the post to Voldemort."

Cole smiled at the strange coincidence. "Goodnight, Professor."

"Goodnight, Cole. Goodnight, Harry."

And they left the room.

"You head straight to your dormitory," Cole told Harry.

"Are you going back to San Francisco?" the student asked.

Cole nodded. "Eventually, but I've got a meeting first."

"A meeting? It's so late."

"Not here, Harry. In Hong Kong, actually. I'm having breakfast with a friend."

Harry smiled inwardly, but didn't let him know what he was thinking. "You have a friend that lives in Hong Kong?! You have friends everywhere!" Harry made it sound like he was joking around, but really, he was following up on Leo's orders to get information.

Cole smiled. "No, I'm just meeting him there. I've gotta follow up on some stuff with him, and I really should get going."

"Okay, goodnight, sir," Harry said, and walked down the opposite hallway, while Cole continued to head to eh Great Hall.

As soon as Cole was out of range, he burst into a run and did not stop sprinting until he made it to the Gryffindor common room. Ron and Hermione were waiting for him.

"What's the rush?" Hermione asked, but he didn't answer her.

"LEO!" he whispered loudly and hoarsely.

The Elder materialised before them. "What?"

"I've got some information for you," Harry told him.

"Already?" Ron and Leo said together.

"Will somebody _please_ tell me what's going on here?" Hermione demanded, looking from Ron to Harry to Leo.

"Turner is meeting with someone, a 'he,' now in Hong Kong," Harry told him. "It's a breakfast meeting."

"You're spying on Professor Turner?!" Hermione burst out.

Harry shushed her, but Leo turned to answer her question. "Not exactly. Cole has got somebody, a whitelighter, spying on the Elders for him."

"And you're going to tip them off to that?" Hermione asked, disgusted by their methods.

"No," Leo answered firmly. "Never. But Cole won't let me in on what he's doing and I want to prevent what happened with Gideon from ever happening again. If the Elders are up to something, then I want to know about it." He turned back to Harry. "Thank you for sharing this. I know it must be hard, he is your favourite teacher and a good friend, but I do not want information on him per se, I just wanna know what he knows about what's going on up there."

And with that, Leo orbed out.

Hermione still looked at Ron and Harry with disgust. "You were spying on him."

"You heard Leo," Ron argued. "We're not really spying on him."

"Oh, yes you are, this is black and white deception," she disputed. "There is no grey! Don't you feel like you're betraying him? Because I feel that way and I wasn't even involved in it." She gave them one more look and then went to bed.

Harry was looking into the fire. "Maybe she's right."

"We had to do it, mate. Leo asked us to out of concern for everyone and we trust Leo."

"We trust Cole too. Without reservation. Hermione's right. And I do feel bad. I'm going to tell Cole first thing tomorrow morning."

"What?" Ron ejected. "You heard Leo. We're not supposed to tell him or anyone. He won't speak to us again if he finds out."

"Then that will be our punishment," Harry decided defiantly. "We deserve it."

**oOo**

Cars were speeding past on, their occupants clearly running late for work, as Cole and Sirius lounged lazily at a table outside of a magnificent and expensive cafe in downtown Hong Kong. Naturally, Cole would be picking up the tab once more.

"So, have you heard anything more?" Cole asked, sipping his very hot cappuccino.

"Since you asked two months ago, no," Sirius replied. "Remember time is a little different up there."

"So you have nothing to share?" Cole expelled, more angrily than he intended. "Why did you call me down here today then?"

"I didn't say that I had nothing. And just don't have anything more on the 'Guardian.' Oh wait! I do. I did hear something. Apparently he resides on Earth and he was only chosen about two and a half years ago because the previous heir died."

"That narrows it down. Someone who lives on Earth?"

"And was born approximately two and half years ago. Or..."

"Or?"

"Or changed in some way at that time," Sirius finished. "They could've died and been reborn into another plane or just came from another plane or time or space or something. But born then is more likely, I think, just because I'm sure there's a lot more of them."

"Right," Cole concluded. "We don't even know what this guardian does."

"Guards?"

Cole shot him a look. "Clever, genius. Guards what?"

"Well, I don't know."

"You said you had other information."

"Right," Sirius said, trying to get back on topic. "The Elders are interested in the disappearance of one of their own. Zola. They think Leo was involved because Zola was trying to help him. You should warn him.

"I will. Thank you. Do they have any proof?"

"No, just the Elders being suspicious of everything and everyone," Sirius told him. "So it's not really so different up there."

"What about this other great threat?"

"I heard that this threat may have been out and about as some kind of Dark Face of Doom, but I'm sure somebody's making things up. Have you seen anything like it?"

"A Dark Face of Doom?"

"Floating, Semi-Visible Dark Face of Doom," Sirius clarified.

"Oh, well then, no I haven't."

"Ask Leo, maybe?" Sirius suggested.

"I don't want to have to involve Leo in this. He has enough on his plate and I don't want to force him against the Elders. He shouldn't have to deal with this. We can handle it."

"I hope you're right," Sirius said, finishing his breakfast.

"I'm always right."

Cole paid the tab and they departed, separately. However, it remained unbeknownst to them that Leo had watched and heard the entire exchange, sitting, disguised, at a nearby table.


	31. A Time to Reveal

Okay, the end of a long and difficult week. Here's the next chapter, with a little surprise at the end... and, alas, the Avatars will be on their way soon. Hope you enjoy and please review.

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter One.

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-One: A Time to Reveal**

Harry arrived at his Study of Galeic Magic class late the next morning. He had contemplated skipping it, but had decided to tell Cole the truth and he was going to stick by it. Their lesson was the last in a series of ones on magical creatures of the Galeic world, such as dwarves, ogres, fairies, even the Lady of the Lake. It had been a lot more interesting than Hagrid's Study of Magical Creatures, if Harry had to be truthful, and the guests were usually better behaved too, although Cole admitted something had to be done about the ogre's stench. It was actually quite shocking how different some creatures were in the different worlds, and how similar others were.

"That's natural selection for you," Cole had joked one lesson. Unfortunately for him, Hermione was the only one to get the joke.

Deciding to hang back after the class, Harry waved by to Ron and Hermione and waited for Cole to finish wiping the board.

"Something I can do for you, Harry?" Cole asked. "If it's about getting that memory from Slughorn, I think we should have a meeting about it sometime this week. Ron and Hermione can come if you like, but we really need to get a move on it. We need a plan."

"I agree, sir, and I'll be happy to make time for a meeting, but I'm actually not here about that."

"Okay." Cole finished what he was doing and gave Harry his full attention. "Spill."

"You'll probably be mad, and you have every right to be, but I want you to hear me out before you do."

"Okay," Cole repeated.

Harry took a breath in and started his story. "Leo came to Ron and I the other night when we were in the Hospital Wing and he asked us to do something for him. Now, while I don't feel comfortable telling you this because I promised him I wouldn't, I need to. I need to apologise for what I did."

"Why? What did you do?"

"He wanted me to... uh... well, sorta... spy on you."

"Spy on me?" Cole, remembering his promise to let Harry tell his story, kept his emotions in check.

"Yes, sir. He wanted to know who you've been meeting with, like last night in Hong Kong and why. He said you were spying on the Elders and you were using another whitelighter to do so."

"Did he tell you who the whitelighter was or why I was spying?"

"No."

"So naturally you decided to help him out? Why? Were you curious as to who I was meeting and why?"

"I guess so, sir. I think that I was hopeful that Leo would tell me what he found out."

Cole looked at him, his expression unreadable. And then... "I was asked to find out what the Elders knew about a coming 'guardian' by Dumbledore and Gideon. I had a friend, a whitelighter, help me because I'm not allowed to go up there. He was eavesdropping on their conversations, and relaying anything about this 'guardian' to me. This information could shape the war against Voldemort. It was vital that the Order knew what the Elders knew."

"Okay," Harry said in a small voice.

"I didn't tell Leo because I didn't want him to become concerned over yet another thing. I didn't want to pit him against the Elders. It was better off that he didn't know anything until I had something of value to tell him."

"I'm sorry, Professor, I should have come to you," Harry said quickly. "I shouldn't have betrayed your trust like this."

"No, Harry," Cole whispered softly. "You shouldn't have. But I am willing to give you another chance. I will keep my faith and trust in you. And I have already told you everything I know about what I was doing."

"Yes, sir," Harry replied. "Thank you."

"You may tell your friends, as you tell them everything, but I don't want this going around, Harry."

"I understand, Professor." Harry got up to leave.

"In war, truth is always the first casualty," Cole said as Harry was leaving.

**oOo**

As soon as his classes were over for the day, Cole took off to Hogsmeade and then shimmered straight to Magic School. He had books to drop off for Paige about Hekabeic Magic, but really, he felt like getting away from Hogwarts. There was too much going on there, and between his orders from Dumbledore and his betrayal by Harry, he really couldn't stand it anymore. He needed a holiday, but the school term was far from over.

"Cole," Paige greeted warmly.

He glared at her. She genuinely looked overworked and there was a mountain of files on her desk that almost reached the ceiling. He sat down without being offered a seat.

"What's up?" Paige asked, ignoring her work.

"Nothing. I just brought those texts you wanted."

"Thanks, Cole. This is gonna work out great in tomorrow's advanced class." She took her turn to glare at him. "Okay, seriously. What's up?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Duh. Isn't that what soon-to-be sister-in-law's are about?"

"You're a little chirpier about it this time than last time Phoebe and I were getting married."

"That's because I thought you were evil last time. And I was right. This time I know you're not."

"Right."

"So, spill. What's got you so down, Mister?"

"You want the truth?"

Paige nodded. "I think I can handle the truth."

Smiling, Cole placed wards around the room to make sure that they couldn't be overheard and then told her about Harry's confession and what Leo had asked him to do.

"Leo was spying on you? Wait a second, why didn't you tell us about these meetings and why you're spying on the Elders?"

"Because that would involve telling you my source and I can't do that yet. I'm not allowed. I did, however, break my promise and tell Phoebe."

"Okay, okay. But lemme get this straight. You're upset about Leo spying on you to find out why you're spying on the Elders."

"I'm spying on the Elders because those are my Orders from Dumbledore and Gideon."

"Well, in case you don't remember, Gideon is dead and he betrayed us."

"I do, but the information he was after still has Dumbledore interested. And it's important too. This 'Guardian' may have enough power to help us in our fight against Voldemort. It might be our most important venture yet."

She looked at him shrewdly. "I'll give you that one. But why didn't the Elders tell us if it was so important?"

"We don't trust them, remember. They normally don't share such important information with us until it's too late anyway," Cole said spitefully. "But Leo... you know, I thought he trusted me. At least, I hope that he did."

"Yeah, but Leo at the moment... he doesn't trust anyone," Paige pointed out. "So I wouldn't take it that personally."

"It is personal, Paige. He convinced two of my closest allies and friends to whisper in his ear."

"I know, that is a little harsh, even for the way he's been acting now."

"Why doesn't he trust me?"

Paige burst out laughing and Cole just glared at her.

"I thought we'd moved past that," he commented bitterly.

"Oh, we have, it just sounded funny."

"Yeah, well, I never thought I see the day we're you'd be my confidante."

"Yeah. That's weird too." Paige was still giggling. "But seriously, Cole, you know that we all trust you with our lives. Even Leo. But because you didn't tell him what you were up to with the Elders he decided to find out another way."

"I know you're right," he replied.

"I'm always right, as it would turn out." She stood up suddenly, as if the simple action was a silent plea to rid Cole from her office. "Now, you have to go home to Phoebe. She wants to talk wedding with you."

"Oh, I'd really rather not," he replied.

"Oh, yes, you have to. But don't worry, I think she wants it smaller this time."

"I really hope so. Oh, and Paige..."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." And he shimmered back to the Manor.

**oOo**

"Location, Cole," his fiancée told him firmly. "It's all about location."

"I thought it was all about us."

Phoebe gave him a loving look. "Yes, but I want _us_ to get married in a beautiful, serene, tranquil, elemental..." she drifted off in thought.

"Okay..." Cole muttered. "Do you have any ideas?"

"I don't know... A British countryside castle? A giant gondola in Venice? A blue-roofed villa in Santorini? An uninhabited isle in the Great Barrier Reef? A scene out of Lord of the Rings in New Zealand? A Japanese Garden in Kyoto?"

"We have a Japanese Tea Garden here in San Francisco," Cole pointed out. A glare was returned in his direction.

"I'm serious, Cole," Phoebe blurted out. "There is a lull in demonic activity, sort of, and Death Eater insurgency. We should take advantage of it."

He got up from the lounge and walker over to her, placing his hands on her crossed arms. "We will get married, I promise, but we are not a deadline here."

"Actually—" But Phoebe was cut off by Cole's phone.

"Yeah, Remus?" he said, answering it. His mood suddenly changed and the smile on his face disappeared. "I'll be right there." He looked down at Phoebe. "I have to go."

"Yeah, of course," she said understandingly. He kissed her lips lightly and then shimmered away.

Piper, who was standing in the doorway only feet away, looked strangely at her sister. "What was that about?"

"What? He had to go."

"No, before that. Before his phone rang. Why are you pushing to get married so quickly?"

"Look... it's not really important..."

"Phoebe," Piper's stern voice said.

"I don't want to tell you again before I tell Cole."

"Tell me what... again?"

Phoebe looked torn. She was bursting to tell the truth, and some part of her sane mind was holding her back. "Look, can we just drop this?"

"No," Piper replied simply. "Can you just tell me?"

"Fine." Phoebe looked defeated. "But don't tell anybody before I tell Cole."

"Okay."

"You might want to have a seat."

"Oh, will you just tell me and stop stalling already!"

Phoebe sighed and looked her sister directly in the eye. "I'm pregnant... again..."

Piper was speechless, but the corners of her mouth were starting to twitch into a smile.


End file.
